Stuart Gray says he is close to completing one or two deals to bring more new faces into Hillsborough … with strikers top of his priorities.
The caretaker boss said today: “We have a couple of offers on the table and are waiting for the players to hopefully give the green light.”
Referring to the possibility of Connor Wickham returning to Sunderland at the end of the month, Gray said he is hopeful that the young striker will extend his stay at S6 but is conscious that the club is only one phone call away from losing him and that is why he is hoping to complete deals in the coming days to strengthen our attacking options.
He said: “At least if Connor goes back then we will have people in place to step into his boots.”
Talking about new central defender, Oguchi Onyewu, Gray said: “He was behind a few decent centre halves at QPR. He wants to get in the US squad for the World Cup so he is hungry to succeed here.”
With regard to the vacant manager’s position and, as yet, not being offered the permanent role despite Saturday’s 6-0 thrashing of Leeds, Gray said he felt he has done enough to prove he is the man for the job. However, he said the decision is out of his control and all he can do is to help keep the team winning games and hopefully putting in good performances as well.
He added: “My brief was to get us out of the bottom three, to try to get us a clean sheet and to score goals and I think I have done that. I will just carry on doing the job to the best of my ability.”