Kristjaan Speakman insists Sunderland's failure to land another striker before the transfer deadline was not due to a lack of ambition or finance. Sunderland sporting director admits he was left with a sense of 'frustration and disappointment' after seeing his efforts to bring in a suitable high-quality replacement for the injured Ross Stewart come to nought.
Sunderland did land four players over the course of the month and he says the club had a number of 'seven-figure' bids in for players at various times. With top scorer Stewart suffering a season-ending Achilles injury in last weekend's FA Cup tie at Fulham, Sunderland now find themselves with on-loan Leeds United man Joe Gelhardt as their only out-and-out centre-forward but Speakman believes the club's coterie of versatile front players are more than capable of picking up the slack.
"We are really fortunate that we have seven or eight really versatile front players and our option has been, if we need to, to use them in a different way," Speakman told the club's podcast SAFC Unfiltered.
