Sunderland were still chasing new signings up to 9pm on deadline day, according to new head coach Tony Mowbray. The Black Cats were keen to bring in reinforcements on Thursday ahead of the 11pm cut-off but, despite Mowbray insisting the club had 'some balls rolling until 8-9pm', ultimately they did not manage to get any deals over the line.
However Mowbray insists he is happy with the squad he has inherited, which was further strengthened on the eve of deadline day with three new additions in midfielders Edouard Michut and Abdoullah Ba, who joined on loan from Paris St Germain and on a permanent deal from Le Havre respectivelly, along with winger Amad Diallo who joined on a season-long loan from Manchester United. And he says he is ready to put his trust in a small but tight-knit group, and rely on their versatility to cover for a variety of different positions.
"We worked really hard, we had some balls rolling probably until about eight or nine o'clock that could have still fallen in for us, but they didn't," said Mowbray, whose reign began with a convincing midweek home win against Rotherham United. "So my opinion was let's trust these lads, let them build that camaraderie that they have.
