Having spent his playing career stopping them, Steve Bruce knows a good striker when he sees one. Sunderland’s manager tells Stuart Rayner he thinks he has his hands on another.

IT IS not the most attractively-put point he will ever make, but it is hard to argue with Steve Bruce.

“You can find a hairy-a***** centre-half anywhere,” he says. “A Premier League striker? Wow, they are gold-dust.”

Fortunately for Bruce, himself once a centre-half, unearthing good strikers has come easily.

Just as well, because hanging on to them has proved much more difficult.

This afternoon, Bruce will be reunited with one of the best he has worked with.

At around £10m Darren Bent was for 12 months Bruce’s and Sunderland’s most expensive signing.

Mocked at Tottenham Hotspur, where manager Harry Redknapp famously remarked his wife Sandra could have put away a chance he spurned, Bent proved value for money, scoring 36 goals in 63 appearances.

At times he shouldered the burden of football’s most important job alone.

Little surprise, then, Bruce was bitterly disappointed to lose a man he credits with kickstarting his Sunderland career to Aston Villa in January.

Bent has not played at the Stadium of Light since and, although his old manager insists there will be no hard feelings from him, the same cannot be send of thousands on the terraces.

Bent was replaced by Asamoah Gyan, another record Sunderland signing at £13m, who in turn has already been replaced by Nicklas Bendtner.

Bruce has long made a habit of collecting top strikers.

France World Cup winner Christophe Dugarry represented his greatest coup, and a six-month loan saved Birmingham City’s top-flight status, even if his standards dropped as soon as his move was made permanent.

Mikael Forssell scored 17 goals in 32 appearances during a season-long loan at St Andrews.