Bruce hopes Europa carrott will lure Bent’s replacement

05 February 2011 11:10
STEVE Bruce has admitted a European place could help Sunderland attract a viable long-term successor to Darren Bent this summer.[LNB] Bruce met his scouting team yesterday afternoon to draw up a shortlist of attacking targets to scrutinise in the second half of the season.[LNB] The Black Cats boss is prepared to break the club's existing £13m transfer record to recruit Bent's successor, but admits luring world-class players to Wearside remains difficult.[LNB] The task might well be easier if Sunderland can offer Europa League football next season, and with 13 games to play, Bruce's side are securely ensconced in the top half of the table.[LNB] As things stand, only the top five finishers are guaranteed a European spot, but if Arsenal were to win the Carling Cup, and another top-five team were to lift the FA Cup, seventh place would be good enough to secure qualification for the Europa League.[LNB] If you are struggling in the bottom half of the table, it is difficult to attract players,[LNB] said Bruce. The higher up the table you are, the easier it becomes.[LNB] You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out what type of player I'm going to be looking for this summer, and that process starts now. Europe would obviously be a huge attraction, and we have a chance.[LNB] That's all it is at this stage, though, because Kenny (Dalglish) has galvanised Liverpool and they're coming on very strong.[LNB] It's going to be a big ask for us to finish above them, but hopefully we can stay there or thereabouts in the next five or six weeks. That would then allow us to finish strongly from there once we get some of our injured players back.[LNB] With the likes of Lee Cattermole, Michael Turner, Danny Welbeck and Fraizer Campbell all set to be sidelined for at least three weeks, the 18-man squad for today's game at Stoke City contains every senior player available to Bruce.[LNB] The Black Cats have been battling against a major injury crisis since early December, yet their form has held up remarkably well, a direct contrast to last season, when a series of absences coincided with a 14-game winless run.[LNB] The club's last two away games have brought victories over Aston Villa and Blackpool, meaning today's trip to the Britannia Stadium offers an opportunity for a third straight Premier League away success for the first time in a decade.[LNB] That would show we're improving, so let's go and do it,[LNB] said Bruce. We've done very well to this stage, so the challenge now is to keep it going.[LNB] We really can't afford any more injuries. It's going to be a little while until we get a few of the lads back, so we can't afford to have anyone else dropping out.[LNB] But we've dealt with the situation so far, and there's no reason why that should change. If we can hang in there until March, we'll have a real chance of a good finish.[LNB] With Stephane Sessegnon having made his debut in Tuesday's 4-2 defeat to Chelsea, fellow January signing Sulley Muntari is expected to make his first appearance in a Sunderland shirt this afternoon.[LNB] The Ghana international has only made one senior appearance since early December, but having watched him in training in the last couple of days, Bruce is prepared to throw the midfielder straight into the firing line against one of the most physical sides in the Premier League.[LNB] I saw him play two weeks ago in the Italian Cup and he's been training with the rest of the squad, said the Sunderland boss, who confirmed that Lee Cattermole's back problem requires another month of rest and rehabilitation. In an ideal world, we would be letting him have two or three weeks to bed in.[LNB] But we're down to the bare bones with injuries, so we might have to throw him in at the deep end and see if he swims.[LNB] We were looking for a midfielder capable of scoring a goal and being a bit different, and he was someone that immediately leapt into my mind.[LNB] I knew we had a chance because of (Asamoah) Gyan and (John) Mensah, but once I got the encouragement, the hard part then was affording him.[LNB] To be fair, he's taken a substantial wage cut to play here.[LNB] At a time when all footballers supposedly think about is money, that's good to see.[LNB]

Source: Northern_Echo