Quinn not expecting an influx

Jul 3 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

Quinn believes much of that is down to a sluggish market in general, with things expected to quicken when the Premier League clubs begin pre-season training – particularly as Bruce has already made it clear he wants to have a good look at the players he has inherited before finalising his list of transfer targets.

Quinn said: “We haven’t give up on any of our targets, but nor have we thrown our cards on the table to show our hand either.

“Steve has a few players that we’d love to have, but he’s very insistent on having a good look at what we have – and he’s probably right.

“We’ve maybe got some players who weren’t able to do well under a previous manager who might come alive, and suddenly you’ve got an asset you didn’t realise you had.

“Rather than just trading for the sake of it, let’s try and be intelligent and smart. We know what we need and where we need it.

“It’s pretty obvious that Djibril (Cisse) has gone and that we need a centre-forward. That doesn’t take a lot to work out.

“There are areas where we have to do something, but there’ll be an opportunity for others too.”

And, as Sunderland prepare for their third season in the top flight, Quinn believes top players will automatically be more tempted to move to the North East.

He added: “I think the third year in, people are seeing us as a better option than they did in the first year.

“Then it was ‘ooh, we want to see some evidence’.

“The second year, yes, we brought players in and looking back, we may have bought too many and maybe it upset the dressing room a little bit, but we did get some good ones.

“There’s some fabulous talent in there and if we can harness it with a couple of steely characters coming in there, it’ll give us a chance.

“Our manager gets what we’re about, which is the most pleasing thing for me.”