Tony Mowbray does not expect Sunderland to 'blitz' the January transfer window - although he says the club has identified some specific targets to pursue next month. Mowbray has been involved in talks with sporting director Kristjaan Speakman and head of recruitment Stuart Harvey to plan not only the club's approach to next month's window, but also to lay the groundwork for the summer and beyond.
While some of that naturally involves looking at potential new recruits, Mowbray says the talks have also included the contract situations of some of the club's existing players and also the futures of some of Sunderland's emerging talents who could be sent out on loan. "We're trying to make sure that we see, not just the next window, but the next few windows," said Mowbray.
"It's about where people's contract situations are, whether they are going to get resolved, whether we are going to offer some people contracts, whether we are not, whether they are going to run out so we need to fill this position or that position. We've talked about some names and some players but you never know until you make the calls, really.
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"Somebody you think might be £300,000 turns out to be £3m! Until you make the calls, until you decide what route you are going to go down, what position you genuinely think you want to strengthen.
"The squad is actually beefing up a little bit at the moment with the injuries coming back, so I don't see January as being one of those where we are going to go out and blitz it and bring another four or five players because it would give us more problems by doing that. I don't want to give too much information on what road we are going down.
"I think competition is going to be pretty tough to get into the starting line-up, so I'd rather the players we have got focus on trying to help the team win some football matches than worry about why we're looking to bring in another centre-forward or centre-half or central midfield player or full-back."
Sunderland's advance planning also involves looking ahead to the summer, which might mean allowing young players out on loan next month to get gametime so that they return ready to play a bigger part for the Black Cats next term. Mowbray said: "Some of it is about some of the younger players, where we think that rather than stay around the squad maybe they should go out on loan and play 20-odd games between the window and the end of the season because that's going to benefit them and then next pre-season they will be more ready to be a first team player.
"Those are the kinds of conversations we have been having, not necessarily just identifying this player or that player. The good thing for me as a manager is that we are sitting there collectively discussing what could happen in six months' time.
"Do we need to protect the team from that happening or if we can get another contract sorted there then we don't need to worry about that position. It's strategic planning, really."
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