SUNDERLAND have turned to Germany in the hope of ending their search for a new left-back.

After missing out on Le Havre’s Bernard Mendy and failing to agree a deal with Tottenham for Danny Rose, the Black Cats have been in touch with Eintracht Frankfurt about Bastian Oczipka.

Liverpool have previously been credited with an interest in Oczipka and Sunderland have been told a transfer fee of around £4m will be required to land him.

The 24-year-old still has two years to run on the contract he signed when he left Bayer Leverkusen, where he struggled to make an impact and was regularly sent out on loan, but Frankfurt would listen to offers near his valuation.

The former German Under-20 international has been impressive in each of his last three seasons, having shone during stints at Hansa Rostock and St Pauli before helping Frankfurt to Europa League qualification last season.

Sunderland’s director of football Roberto De Fanti is scouring Europe for a new left-back, knowing Rose’s return to Tottenham in May has left Di Canio without a recognised candidate to fill that role.

Midfielder Jack Colback, who has turned down the option of extending his contract with 12 months to run and is interesting Hull, has filled in there before but Di Canio is desperate to bring in a proper left-back.

He is confident of ending his right-back search early next week when Argentine Gino Peruzzi travels to Wearside to finalise a £5m deal, while there have also been successful attempts to strengthen other areas of his squad.

But left-back remains a concern, so De Fanti is putting a lot of focus on that front in the next week or so in the hope progress can be made before Sunderland head out to Hong Kong for the Barclays Asia Trophy a week today.

Provided there are no late hiccups with deals for Peruzzi and Juventus’ Emanuele Giaccherini and they become Sunderland players next week, Di Canio will have taken his recruitment drive to nine new players even before a different left-back is signed and sealed.

The club is also working hard behind the scenes in a bid to make Sunderland a more attractive destination for younger, overseas players and chief executive Margaret Byrne headed a delegation which travelled to Africa last week to strengthen links to the club’s academy.

Byrne and academy manager Ged McNamee flew to Tanzania to get the academy programme’s partnership with global electricity giant, Symbion Power, off the ground and it is hoped it will lead eventually to top African prospects heading to Sunderland.

The proposed site in Dar es Saalem for the first phase of the academy development was viewed, while officials delivered an overview of the football facility in detail as senior figures from the Tanzanian Football Federation strengthened ties with the North-East.

Byrne said: “We had an incredible few days. There’s so much goodwill for the club and what we are trying to do out here, we have been welcomed by everyone so warmly.”