Bruce, with the backing of owner Ellis Short and chairman Niall Quinn, has significantly strengthened his squad with the likes of record £13million-plus signing Asamoah Gyan and £10million strike-partner Darren Bent, as well as Michael Turner and Titus Bramble among others. He has hinted that business will be limited in the winter transfer window in the belief that Aston Villa's Stewart Downing, Manchester City's Adam Johnson and Wigan's Charles N'Zogbia will be unavailable. However, amid speculation that rival clubs could be ready to test his resolve to hang on to the likes of Gyan and emerging England international Jordan Henderson, Bruce would only be forced to make a decision by an offer he simply could not refuse. He said: "Absolutely. It would take crazy offers for me to consider anything. The ones who are out on loan are the ones where I would envisage there would be a bit of business to be done. "But as for the big 'uns we have got, we have worked extremely hard, the chairman and the owner, to get the club in this situation, so the last thing you would want to be doing is dismantling it. "It would take ridiculous money, absolutely, for us even to think about doing anything." Those who could move on this month are the likes of George McCartney, David Healy, Nyron Nosworthy, Andy Reid, Matt Kilgallon and Paulo da Silva, who has rejected a move to Mexican club Cruz Azul but also attracted interest from Spain. Jack Colback's loan spell at Ipswich also comes to an end on January 14, leaving Bruce with another decision. In the meantime, the manager will concentrate on trying to secure his side's first back-to-back league wins this season at Aston Villa. The Black Cats bounced back from a 2-0 home defeat to Blackpool with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Blackburn on Saturday, 24 hours before Villa signalled what they hope will be the start of a fightback with a creditable 3-3 draw at Chelsea. Bruce said: "To be fair to [Villa boss] Gerard Houllier, he has had a few injuries to his big players. When I saw them the other day, they had that familiar look about them. "They were big, strong, powerful, they had pace in good areas. If you finish sixth in the Premier League for the last three years you are a good team, and he had most of them playing the other day." With Bent, Gyan and Danny Welbeck all scoring against Rovers four days after firing blanks on Blackpool's visit to the Stadium of Light, Sunderland head for Villa in form and riding high in the table, although Bruce is simply refusing to countenance talk of European qualification. He said: "We are not going to get carried away. We have got some important games coming up and, if we can maintain it and stay injury-free, then we might have a chance. "But ask me again in another three months' time when the daffodils start to appear."
