Pair set for the Black Cats exit door

Aug 27 2009 By Stuart Rayner, The Journal

Edwards was a key figure in Sunderland’s 2007 Championship success under Keane, his mid-season signing from Luton Town giving fresh impetus to the Black Cats’ promotion push. But since then he has been dogged by injuries which have prevented him becoming a regular in the Premier League side.

Henderson looks to have jumped ahead of the Trinidad and Tobago international too and when Edwards did make his first start of the season, against Norwich City on Monday, it was at right-back.

Meanwhile, Bruce’s long-running pursuits of Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin look doomed to failure, with the pair tipped to join Aston Villa and Everton respectively.

Bruce had hoped to make Dunne Sunderland’s captain once Joleon Lescott’s belated £22m move to City was rubber-stamped, believing him to be the leader his new club needed, and a player who could bring the best out of the talented but error-prone Anton Ferdinand. But Villa’s needs are the greater after Martin Laursen’s retirement and it would appear their wage offer is more generous than that of both Sunderland and Everton.

City have also not given up hope of retaining the central defender, though his slide down the pecking order makes that unlikely.

Sunderland signed Paraguayan Paulo Da Silva as a free agent this summer, and are waiting for a visa to add Ghanaian John Mensah on a season-long loan. That only takes the Black Cats up to the number of defenders they finished last season with, when Calum Davenport and Tal Ben Haim were on loan.

By the time the versatile Mensah has signed – Bruce hopes it might be tomorrow – Paul McShane is expected to have completed a £1.5m move to Hull City.

Last week, Bruce said he was expecting Mensah’s signing to be his last. But some alarming defending against Blackburn Rovers at the weekend has prompted a rethink.

Da Silva made his debut on Monday after his own long wait for a visa, and Bruce was impressed. "He’s a good, uncomplicated defender," he said. "He’ll get to grips with the game."