Sunderland's caretaker boss Ricky Sbragia will spend some of the money he has been promised on an experienced defender. "I've put forward a suggestion about bringing someone in and that is being looked at," Sbragia told the Sunderland Echo.

"It's early days yet and I haven't got a name but the position I'm looking at is defence, because I think we're a bit thin there.

"I'll be looking at bringing in an experienced Premiership defender.

"I don't think we'll look abroad, simply because I think it takes time to get used to the Premiership and to settle in - the time to bring those sort of players in, is perhaps summer.

"Who the player is, we'll have to wait and see. We'll look to buy an experienced Premiership defender but if that doesn't work out there's always use of the loan system and, of course, we have an experienced loan player in Paul McShane whose spell at Hull City is something we might look at."