'Several': Kristjaan Speakman issues major Sunderland transfer update

Kristjaan Speakman has said that Sunderland are still looking to add ‘several’ new signings to their squad despite a rapid start to the transfer window.

Speakman spoke to Sky Sports this week shortly before the Black Cats announced their sixth signing of the summer so far, with Simon Adingra joining from Brighton & Hove Albion for an initial £18.5 million fee.

The club’s sporting director confirmed that the club were nevertheless far from done as they look to build a squad capable of surviving and thriving in the Premier League.

“We've still got several more players that we need to acquire in certain areas of the pitch," Speakman said.

"I'll leave that a little bit loose for you but we have to try to find the right players. We've never been knee-jerk in our decision making. We'll try to be calm, but it's the balance of being calm, waiting and trying to find [players]. Also knowing that you've got the right ones and being decisive.

"Momentum is important. We want to make sure we can start well. We knew that we had three or four players that we felt were the right ones and we've tried to do them. I think that just shows the ambition of the ownership and the direction of the club."

Speakman added that the club were well aware of the challenge in stepping up to Premier League and that while looking to add more quality to the group, there is a determination to maintain the spirit in the dressing room that was so important to the club’s promotion.

“We're not naive to the challenge,” he said.

“I think we have to be really clear, our mindset is that Sunderland needs to be back where it's always been. It's always been, on aggregate, around ninth place in the Premier League. It's top tier and that's the challenge, to reestablish the club back there and we're on a journey to doing that.

"The first part is being able to stay in the league. I'm really proud of some of the boys who have been with us since the start, since I got here and Kyril [Louis-Dreyfus] purchased the club. We've had loads of people who have joined on the way and chosen to come to us rather than going elsewhere. We've obviously got some more recent examples in the last few days of that happening.

"Players want to play with good players. They want the challenge. They want a competitive squad and they want good people in the squad. Last season, I think everybody could see from the outside that we have a really united group and really passionate group about playing for Sunderland, which is what supporters want to see."

Sunderland’s likely next steps in the transfer window

While Sunderland are still looking to strengthen multiple areas of their squad, defence is emerging as a key priority after Luke O’Nien, Dennis Cirkin, Aji Alese and Leo Hjelde were ruled out for the first three games of the Premier League season.

Speaking after Sunderland’s return to action at South Shields, Régis Le Bris said that the club were working hard to strengthen their squad but also assessing those currently within the squad. He said early decisions would be made after the upcoming trip to Portugal as to which players would be given a chance to be part of the Premier League squad next season.

“We're a work in progress,” he said.

“It's obvious that the next step is going to be massive and so we need to reinforce the squad. Only one played today [Habib Diarra] but in the next few weeks we are going to add the others. We need to build this connection on the pitch and their physical condition as well. It's good to get players in early, it's always better. Ultimately the market decides, we always want the full squad [on day one] but it's never like that. So we'll see how it develops in the coming weeks."It's still a little difficult to know exactly what we will do because every day we are learning a little more about the players that we have. We are getting more information after every session, every game. So we'll see. We're adapting all the time.”

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