Cats duo eyed, Niko talk denied
The Black Cats are looking to reduce their total wage bill having drafted in 10 summer signings to replace the five men who have left to date, and with the pair surplus to requirements, they are hoping deals can be struck during the remaining days of the summer transfer window. Bruce said: "Kilgallon and Nosworthy are the only two and there's a bit of interest from a couple of Championship clubs. "We will see what develops over the next week or two. But certainly, they are the only two, I would think, we are looking to let go." Kilgallon, 27, joined Sunderland from Sheffield United in January last year, but returned early from a loan spell at Middlesbrough through injury and spent the second half of the last campaign at Doncaster under a similar arrangement. Fellow defender Nosworthy arrived at the Stadium of Light from Gillingham during the summer of 2005, but the 30-year-old has spent the last season and a half on loan at Sheffield United. Both men were already well down the pecking order on Wearside before the recent arrivals of John O'Shea and Wes Brown pushed them even further away from the first-team picture. Bruce is hoping to move on them and the likes of Marcos Angeleri having already seen Jordan Henderson, Bolo Zenden, Steed Malbranque, George McCartney and Cristian Riveros leave to free up further cash to aid his search for a left-sided midfielder. Charles N'Zogbia and Stewart Downing have gone to Aston Villa and Liverpool respectively, and his hopes of landing Manchester City's Adam Johnson on loan have been dashed. However, Bruce has dismissed claims from Tottenham midfielder Kranjcar's representative, Adrian Alja, that he is close to clinching a deal for the Croatia international. He said: "I don't know where that's come from. As I have said repeatedly now for a couple of weeks, I am very, very pleased with what we have done and if we don't do another thing, I will be delighted with what we have done. "I don't know where the Kranjcar thing came from. I have seen quotes from his agent - certainly, I have not spoken to Kranjcar's agent, so I don't really know where that has come from."