Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has admitted his interest in signing
South American forward Salvador Cabanas in the January transfer
window.
With number one target Kevin Kuranyi now expected to stay at
Schalke, Bruce has targeted Cabanas.
Kuranyi, who is out of contract in the summer, is understood
to be wanted by a number of clubs, including the Black Cats,
Chelsea and Birmingham. But the 27-year-old has pledged his
short-term future at least to the Bundesliga side who are pushing
for the title and a place in next season's Champions League.
"Now I have the chance to make something big happen at this
club," Kuranyi told German newspaper Bild.
"Even though I still feel tired due to the intensity of our
most recent training camp, (coach) Felix (Magath) has forced me to
be on top of my fitness.
"Under his belt I have again found the keys to enjoy the
game."
With Kuranyi out of the running, Bruce may now train his
sights on Paraguay international Cabanas, who is currently top
scorer in the Mexican league with Club America.
"I've monitored Cabanas. He's a fantastic player and whether
a deal is possible for him, I don't know," said Bruce in the
Sunderland Echo. "He's somebody who would be of interest to us, but
I'm sure if he became available, there would be a lot more clubs
interested too."
The one plus point for Bruce is Cabanas' international
team-mate, defender Paulo Da Silva, is currently a regular in the
Sunderland side. If Bruce is to conduct any transfer business over
the next few days it will be from the club's warm-weather training
camp in Portugal.
Bruce and his players today flew out of freezing Britain in a
bid to aid their preparations for this weekend's Premier League
clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
"It means we can go and do five or six sessions before we
take on Chelsea," said Bruce, whose side have managed just two
proper training sessions in the last three weeks. "I wouldn't want
to go to Chelsea with the preparation we had last week. Some of the
players are Olympic swimmers, the amount of work they've done in
the pool!
"But you can only do that for so long. Eventually the players
need to go out and play and replicate what we do on a Saturday."
Adamant the trip is far from a holiday, he added: "There will
be no suntans. It'll only be 16 or 17 degrees, but that's warm
enough."
