Source: PA
Bruce looking for Bent replacement
Sunderland manager Steve Bruce will spend the next few months scouring the world to find the man to replace Darren Bent.
Bruce was stunned when the 27-year-old England international handed in a transfer request within hours of the 1-1 derby draw with Newcastle on January 16 which led to his £24million departure for Aston Villa days later.
He resisted the temptation to plough that money straight back into a replacement without having done his homework, despite having loan signing Danny Welbeck and Fraizer Campbell on the injured list.
Instead, he pressed ahead during the remainder of the winter transfer window with his already planned moves for Stephane Sessegnon and Sulley Muntari. But the process of finding a man to partner record signing Asamoah Gyan is now under way, and Bruce is promising to leave no stone unturned.
Bruce said: "We have got Welbeck as one of our strikers and we have lost Bent, so you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know where we are looking to strengthen.
"We will look from now on. All our attention for the next three or four months will be to scour the world to try to find the right striker and the right person we can bring into the club. That's got to be our aim, to try to keep improving. That's got to be my job, to make sure that we keep improving as a club and keep improving as a squad."
