SUNDERLAND are working on a deal to bring Borussia Dortmund striker Adrian Ramos to the Stadium of Light before tomorrow's transfer deadline and Dick Advocaat is also banking on landing another defender.

Ellis Short, the Black Cats’ owner, has given the go-ahead for a couple more additions after seeing signs of improvement over the last week which ended with a hard earned point at Aston Villa on Saturday.

Sunderland’s spending power could be boosted if they can move on a couple more players and Emanuele Giaccherini is due in Italy to finalise a season-long loan move to Bologna after a £250,000 fee was agreed.

There are also attempts to shift Valentin Roberge and Charis Mavrias, while Liam Bridcutt and Will Buckley could move to a Football League club on loan after the 6pm deadline.

Advocaat is not too concerned with the outgoings and prefers to hear some good news from Short and sporting director Lee Congerton on the recruitment front - particularly in the final third.

The Dutch coach is keen to stick with the lone striker system and wants a player to fill that role after failing to come up with the ideal solution so far. Ramos, out of favour at Dortmund, has emerged as the front-runner.

The 29-year-old is understood to have had a three-year deal offered to him from Sunderland after receiving permission from the Bundesliga club for talks. The stumbling block appears to be the £7.25m asking price.

Ramos, who had a decent scoring record for Hertha Berlin before moving to Dortmund last summer, has played for Colombia 35 times and Advocaat has known about him, so was happy to consider Congerton’s suggestion.

If Sunderland, who have decided against pursuing Fabio Borini after the Italian hinted he would prefer to join Inter Milan, can lure Ramos to Wearside then Advocaat also hopes to have another defender arrive on loan.

Sunderland have appeared more solid in the last two Premier League games and Younes Kaboul looked more like a £4m defender at Villa Park on Saturday, despite Scott Sinclair scoring twice for the Villans.

Advocaat’s latest signing Ola Toivonen played a part in Jeremain Lens scoring shortly after half-time and the goalscorer expects the new addition to be a big player during his season-long loan from Rennes.

Lens said: “I know Ola from my time at PSV. He is a good attacker. He scores goals and creates them so hopefully he can help me score more like he did at Villa.

“To have him in the team is good for us and it would be nice if he can play in more games for us now. He can help us get better results and climb the league, I’m sure of that. He is a great person and he will be a good addition.”

Lens’ first competitive goal for Sunderland since his £8m move from Dynamo Kiev prevented a third defeat from four games in the league, but it was not enough to lift them off the foot of the table.

After years of challenging for titles with Kiev and PSV Eindhoven, Lens is well placed to pass judgement on how the atmosphere in those camps compares to that of a Sunderland side which has battled against relegation for years.

Lens said: “It was the same spirit in the players at Villa as it was for the other games, there is no problem there. But it is always difficult to start a competition with good results. It is difficult to get good results at this stage. I think this was a better performance than in the first few games.

“On the pitch it is difficult as you can see. It is the Premier League, so it will be tough. Everyone tries to do the things we talk about before the games. As you can see you can make mistakes and they can lead to goals.

“We need to keep everyone together, work hard and at the end the results will come. This was not our best game but a draw in this stadium is a good result.”