Source: Telegraph
Steve Bruce denies Sunderland have bid for Wigan's Chris Kirkland
Bruce admitted that he was full of admiration for the goalkeeper whom he managed in his rein as Wigan Athletic manager but scoffed at reports that a £5m offer was on the cards. [LNB]'Talk of me bidding £5 million for Chris Kirkland is garbage but he is a very good goalkeeper and I'm a big, big admirer of him,' Bruce said. [LNB] Related ArticlesKenwyne Jones 'not for sale'Sunderland defend postponementSeven Premier League fixtures postponedSunderland v Bolton Wanderers: match previewBirmingham to bid for Kenwyne JonesBruce charged over referee comments'Some of the players I've been linked with have been ridiculous but you come to expect that in January and there's nothing we can do about that. [LNB]'What I will say is that we're working on one or two things and hopefully we can see them progress.' [LNB]Bruce, who has also been linked with Hamburg right-back Guy Demel, Tottenham's David Bentley and Liverpool's Ryan Babel, is taking his Sunderland players to Portugal to prepare for Saturday's visit to Chelsea. [LNB]'We've trained maybe once or twice properly in the last couple of weeks and that's just not good enough when you're talking about athletes and footballers being in their best condition,' Bruce said. 'There's only so much you can do with gym work and we've tried to find different places to train and prepare the players as best we can. [LNB]'But training on beaches or indoors is not ideal and training on the pitches at the Academy is just not something we've been able to do very often.' [LNB]Bruce, whose side are now 11th in the Premier League table, added: 'A lot of other clubs are in the same boat as us with the weather conditions for once it's not just something which affects the North-East. [LNB]'But we've got to look at exploring the best ways we can to get the squad in the best possible shape because the last thing you want is a drop in fitness levels. [LNB]'Players work hard in the modern game to keep themselves in peak condition and you've got to do that if you're going to compete. [LNB]'We've also got to be aware of injuries and the fact is that conditions like we've had in Sunderland for the last few weeks are not great when it comes to avoiding them.' [LNB]
