Tony Mowbray still expects 'a few' more new faces to arrive before the start of the season - with another striker top of his wishlist. Sunderland have already added four new signings over the summer, with Jobe Bellingham, Nectar Triantis, Jenson Seelt, and Luis Hemir Semedo moving to Wearside.
But the Black Cats are still short in some areas, particularly up front where star striker Ross Stewart is still working his way back to fitness after rupturing his Achilles tendon in January and will not be ready when the Championship campaign kicks off against Ipswich Town on August 6. Portuguese teenager Semedo joined from Benfica this summer, but as things stand he is the club's only fit senior frontman.
"We'll work with what we've got, and hopefully there will be another couple coming in," said Mowbray, in an interview with the club's own media channel. "We could do with some help at the top end of the pitch, where Ross isn't quite ready yet.
"We've got young Luis Semedo but he is only a boy and it is a big burden for him to be the only senior striker that we have got. We could do with some help at the top end of the pitch over the next few weeks and I'm sure we are working very hard behind the scenes on that.
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"I'm hoping there are still a few new faces to come in the building and we are going to have to integrate them. It's amazing to have four new faces with us when we come back, it's really good to have them with us through the pre-season rather than them arrive on the last day of the window and be thrown into the group and be expected to be brilliant from Day One.
"Hopefully we can do a little bit more in terms of recruitment over the next few weeks."
Sunderland finished sixth last season and reached the play-offs despite playing for much of the season without a specialist centre-forward. Stewart spent almost three-quarters of the season on the sidelines with first a thigh injury and then his Achilles problem, while on-loan Everton striker Ellis Simms also had injury issues and was then recalled by the Merseysiders in January.
Joe Gelhardt joined on loan from Leeds United at the end of January but he was not a like-for-like replacement for Stewart.
