Source: Telegraph
Sunderland look set to miss out on Darren Bent and Lee Cattermole
With Peter Crouch expected to complete his move to Tottenham this week from Portsmouth, Bent could be heading to Wearside. But Bruce has indicated that he might walk away from the deal - unless the asking price is lowered.
He said: "I do not know if Tottenham's deal for Peter Crouch will help us. It is one we are visiting, but we cannot wait around forever. We are still short - a long way off in terms of our valuations at the moment. We will look at it again, but if we can't agree, we will move on.
"We are not making headway at the moment and there hasn't been any progress over the weekend."
Meanwhile, Bruce also looks set to fail in his attempts to reunite himself with Cattermole after Whelan said Sunderland are wasting their time in their pursuit of the midfielder.
Sunderland have had two bids rejected already, and despite reports of an improved £10 million bid being tabled, Whelan is adamant that the club has no intention of doing business.
"Sunderland are wasting their time - and I've told them that," said Whelan, who is keen to given new manager Roberto Martinez the best possible chance to succeed in his first season as a Premier League manager.
"I said, 'Don't even bother bidding for him again'. Lee will be at Wigan this season. When I heard about the first bid from Sunderland, I said straight away to (general manager) John Benson, 'He isn't going anywhere. He's staying here'.
"And Roberto agrees with me, so that's it. Finished. Lee wants to stay. He's happy here, he knows he's making progress here, and he wants to play under Roberto.
"It's out of the way as far as he's concerned."
