STEVE Bruce has promised a summer overhaul to rival the one he carried out two years ago.

When Bruce moved to the Stadium of Light in 2009 it was to inherit a side yet to establish itself in the Premier League.

With Ricky Sbragia let go after another season flirting with relegation, the new manager carried out root-and-branch reform. Any manager ought to only do that once at a club, but Sunderland manager Bruce (pictured left) feels the need for a repeat.

His excuse is a catalogue of injuries which will see a host of key players missing the start of the new season and, in the case of Fraizer Campbell, perhaps all of it. Plan A was to simply fine-tune the squad with a couple of big-money signings.

Then came the controversial sale of Darren Bent to Aston Villa in January and a mounting injury list. Now Bruce has targeted “eight or nine” new faces.

“When I first came in, I signed Bent, Campbell, (Lorik) Cana and (Lee) Cattermole and (Titus) Bramble, (Michael) Turner, and (John) Mensah on loan,” he said. “We need another influx like we had then.

“I don’t think people realise we had five loan players (in the season just gone). That is because the owner in previous years has spent a lot of money. There is

nothing wrong with a loan player and (Nedum) Onuoha, (Danny) Welbeck and Elmo (Ahmed Elmohamady) all played huge parts in the season. We could look at that again. There’s nothing wrong with that – but we had five out of 24. It shows you how light we were.”

Of his loan quintet, only Elmohamady is likely to return for pre-season in July after Sunderland signed the Egyptian right-sider permanently.

Ghanaians Mensah and Sulley Muntari are certain not to.

Muntari failed to even see the season out, sent back to Inter Milan early so as not to make the ten appearances which would have triggered a permanent deal after an under-whelming spell.

Injury-prone Mensah returned for a second season-long loan from Lyon, but the centre-back’s star appeared on the wane.

Impressive at the World Cup, where he captained the Black Stars to the quarter-finals, he began to look like a player who was unable to train regularly.

The 28-year-old’s attitude seemed to follow the same curve as his performance levels. His last act as a Black Cats player was storming down the Stadium of Light tunnel after being substituted against Wolverhampton Wanderers. With Onuoha and Welbeck it has been the opposite problem.

Owned by the two Manchester giants, their performances have been such that those clubs are in no rush to sell.

Even Michael Owen’s surprise one-year contract extension is not expected to stop Welbeck’s recall by Manchester United after a breakthrough season which saw him make his England debut.

Six-foot-one-inch Korean Ji Dong-Won is the latest linked as one of the forwards Bruce may recruit in Welbeck’s place.

Ohuoha may or may not have a future at Manchester City, but his performances last season have inflated his transfer fee beyond anything Bruce is prepared to pay. With so many new faces needed, he must look for bargains and if, as expected, City demand £8m for his services, Onuoha will not fall into that category.

With so much change planned, Bruce can ill afford to lose his last remaining fit striker, Asamoah Gyan.

Tottenham have been linked with the charismatic frontman, but Bruce is confident of keeping his record signing.

“I have had no inquiries for Gyan,” he said. “I’ve seen bits of speculation but that does not worry me at all.

“He will be better in the second year because he will be used to it more. What we need is competition for him. That is where we will try to start.”