Ellis Short, the Sunderland owner, has revealed that there will be funds available to manager Martin O’Neill for spending in the summer transfer window.
The American billionaire has been investing heavily in the English Premier League side, but is yet to see results. It was only last summer when Steve Bruce was the manager at the club that Short allowed the acquisition of over ten players, both on permanent
and loan moves.
However, the Black Cats had a terrible start to the season despite the new additions to the squad because of which Bruce was eventually sacked. Martin O’Neill was brought in and even though the former Aston Villa manager was not allowed spend in the winter
transfer window of the 2011-2012 season, he managed to lead Sunderland to a 13th place finish on the Premier League table.
This time around, Short has permitted Martin O’Neill to look in the transfer market for players he would be interested to bring in. He said they wanted first to identify the signings that they believed would benefit the club and then go about trying to sign
them.
Short said in an interview:
“Martin is looking at specific players we might want and there will be a lot of work in trying to get those players here. But we don't want to sign players for the sake of signing them, or because it feels inexpensive.
We want to identify players who are good and who will definitely improve us, and try to bring them in.”
He did however; reveal the club would not be spending just for the sake of buying players. Short admitted there was a pressure to deliver decent results in the Premier League and he hoped his financial backing would help the club realize their ambitions
in the upcoming season.
He revealed:
“We want to be well within the top 10. We certainly can't promise that, but we're not happy with where we are and we want to continue to improve.
There's a huge pressure to do so - both from the fans and their expectations, and from the sheer size of the economics that are involved in the Premier League.”
Tags: