Neil’s hopeful Cats can still seal deals
ALEX Neil insists Sunderland are pushing as hard as they can to secure more new signings before the Championship kick-off this weekend.
The Black Cats have so far added five new signings over the summer following the arrival of goalkeeper Alex Bass last night and Neil admits his squad is lightweight in several departments - not least in terms of competition and cover for striker Ross Stewart.
Sunderland are running out of time to bring in reinforcements before the season gets under way against Coventry City at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.
They have until the end of August to clinch new signings but Neil is acutely aware of the fact seven league games will have been played before the deadline passes - and they cannot afford to give any teams a head-start in the Championship.
He said: “When it comes to getting players in, then myself and everyone at the club who is dealing with transfer matters can only push it as far as we can push it. That is what we are currently trying to do.
“We want to try to add more players before the weekend and we hope one or two of those run their course and we manage to get them in - but I won’t be spending all my time worrying about that if I cannot affect it.
“My main priority is to get the lads we currently have on to the training pitch and get us ready for the first game.
“If we can get bodies in then that will naturally help us.”
Neil added: “We have seven games between now and the end of the window and we don’t want to be giving any teams games a head start by being under-strength. That is something we are fully aware of.
“It is something we discussed before the play-off final and then more intently ever since we were promoted. It is not lost on us.
“I don’t want people thinking we’re sitting on our backsides just hoping somebody walks through the door.
“There is a lot of work going into it but it is certainly not straightforward.”
One problem for Neil is that even if new recruits do arrive in the coming days - or even weeks - they may not be fully matchfit and he will have had little time to work with them.
However, he is less concerned about that, pointing our he had to address a similar situation when he took over in February when several of the club’s January additions were yet to get up to speed.
Neil went on: “We had those problems in January. I inherited them when I came in the building, a couple of lads had come in and had had no minutes for more than six months.
“You are trying to get them up to speed-and you’re not wanting to break them down even though you are looking for a performance out of them.
“That was a really difficult balancing act. Fortunately, with the quality we had in the squad, I think you can get away with that in League One. You will not get away with that in the Championship.
“I have been in that league for six or seven years and it is a tough, tough league.
“If you are not at it, or you are not ready, you are going to suffer.
“It is right for us to be optimistic but it is right for us to be realistic as well.”