Sunderland boss hoping to get signings under way this week

Ross has spent the last 10 days working on a recruitment strategy with assistant James Fowler as he looks to build a squad capable of getting out of League One.

The Sunderland boss has identified a number of potential signings, and have been in contact with representatives and free agents as he refines a list of potential incomings.

Ross admits the main focus so far has been on players leaving the club to reduce the wage bill, with the likes of Didier Ndong, Wahbi Khazri, Jack Rodwell and Papy Djilobodji on salaries that are far too big for League One.

But he hopes that the club can move quickly on a couple of signings, with the Black Cats set to need around a dozen new players this summer.

“At the moment there’s been a lot of focus on the ‘outs’ which doesn’t fall directly under my remit in terms of making that happen,” Ross said.

“As (owner) Stewart (Donald) has touched on that’s a priority to balance the club in that sense and then hopefully we can progress on others.

“They’re quite far down the line in terms of players knowing where we would be at and how strong the interest is, it’s just can we get to that next stage of bringing them in.

“Hopefully in the next week or so we might be able to do that as well.”

Ross has an interest in Blackpool’s Clark Robertson, who is a free agent next month, while he was linked over the weekend with Ross County full-back Jason Naismith, who he worked with briefly at St Mirren.

Sunderland have accepted a £6.6million bid from Torini for Ndong, with the midfielder in talks over personal terms with the Serie A outfit, while negotiations are ongoing over the potential sales of other high-earners.

Donald is determined to resist bids for Paddy McNair, with Premier League new boys Wolves the latest side to be linked with the Northern Ireland star.