Sunderland manager Steve Bruce insists he will not be held to
ransom in his pursuit of fresh faces during the winter transfer
window.
The turn of the year means clubs are now able to enter the
market once again, with most sides hoping to bolster their numbers
with the odd acquisition. Bruce is no different, with the Black
Cats chief keen to avoid seeing the 2009/10 campaign fizzle out at
the Stadium of Light.
The former Birmingham and Wigan coach will have money to
spend in January, and plans to put it to good use, but he is
adamant that he will not be paying over the odds for any of his
targets.
"I don't anticipate doing much business in the transfer
market in January and any players that I do bring in would have to
come in for sensible money," Bruce told the Sunderland Echo. "I've
always said that the January transfer window is a difficult one for
managers to get value for money in.
"The top clubs don't want to sell their players because
they've got European competition on their mind and the players that
are around tend to be either not ideal or on sale for vastly
over-inflated fees. We're not going to get involved in that.
"And unless clubs are realistic in their pricing, then we
won't be interested - simple as that.
"I know that we could do with bringing in a player or two. I
know we could do with a bit of strengthening, but we're not going
to pay silly money to do it."
While Bruce is keen to add before the window slams shut
again, he accepts that he may also be forced to move a few players
on. He said: "It's going to be a case of wait and see what's out
there and what prices are being quoted.
"But at this stage I don't really expect to be doing much
business in the window.
"We have several players who we will listen to offers for.
We've done our own homework and we have areas we want to strengthen
and players we might be interested in.
"But nothing is sorted and supporters shouldn't expect a lot
of comings and goings.
"January is rarely the time to do good business, so it
wouldn't surprise me if there are less transfers over the course of
the month than many people expect."
