DAVID MOYES has admitted he is struggling to persuade players to join Sunderland this month because of the club’s perilous position in the Premier League relegation zone.

Joleon Lescott was training with the Black Cats yesterday, having been released from his previous contract at Greek side AEK Athens in November, but as he prepares to take his side to West Brom this afternoon, Moyes is still to make his first January signing.

He held a transfer summit with Black Cats owner Ellis Short this week, and emerged having accepted that he will not be handed significant funds with which to make improvements.

He will spend the next week-and-a-half looking to seal a number of cut-price deals, with loans and free agents having returned to the top of his agenda.

That explains the interest in Lescott, a 34-year-old centre-half who was relegated with Aston Villa last season. The former England international spent three years playing under Moyes at Everton, and while he would jump at the chance of a contract to the end of the season, it is proving much more difficult to persuade other players to move to the Stadium of Light.

“That (convincing players to sign) is probably the biggest difficulty we have,” said Moyes, who insists there has been no new Crystal Palace bid for Patrick van Aanholt despite mounting suggestions that the Eagles are confident of completing a deal. “I will always tell players how fantastic it is to play at a stadium that gets over 40,000 every week.

“We have fantastic training facilities, and I tell players they’ll be coming to work with a manager who wants to build and improve them. The big thing is the supporters – they come through thick and thin and fill the away end every week, and a lot of clubs in the Premier League don’t get that.

“But a lot of people will look and say the league position is difficult. And then you also need a level of finance to go to a certain level of player.”

It is clear that level of finance is not available, with this week’s meeting between Short, Moyes and chief executive Martin Bain seemingly having confirmed a lack of desire on the part of the owner to incur further significant debt.

Prior to the transfer window opening, Bain admitted there would only be “limited funds” available. Sunderland have been unable to extricate themselves from the relegation zone in the intervening period, but Short’s hardline stance has not changed.

“I was with Ellis this week,” said Moyes. “We had a good afternoon, and a good evening with Martin too. Ellis is fine. I don’t see him too often, but we have a conversation during the week sometimes. Ellis was fine, although he’s desperate for us to find a way of somehow staying up and making sure we are in the Premier League.”

It does not appear that support extends to financing major January deals, and while Moyes remains hopeful of making a couple of additions before the transfer window closes, he has conceded they are unlikely to have a transformative effect on his squad.

Last January, Sam Allardyce splashed out around £15m on Lamine Kone, Jan Kirchhoff and Wahbi Khazri, and was also able to bring in Dame N’Doye on loan. The three permanent signings in particular had a major effect on Sunderland’s fortunes, playing a significant role in the improvement that propelled the club to safety in the final weeks of the season.

This time around, any signings will be less high-profile, with Moyes warning supporters not to expect a sudden upturn as a result of any January additions.

“I think I’d be kidding you on if I told you that the players we’re going to bring in in January will make a big difference,” he said. “First of all, we probably couldn’t get that level of player. Secondly, we probably wouldn’t have the finances to do that.

“I think to suggest that the players we’ll be bringing in will make a big difference wouldn’t be correct. I think the players that did come in at the same time for Sunderland last year did make a big difference and did a good job.”

Moyes continues to monitor Phil Jagielka and James McCarthy’s situation at Everton, and will only be bringing in players who can slot straight into the first team.

That almost certainly means targeting potential recruits who have already played in the Premier League, and who are coming towards the end of their career rather than just starting out.

“We need to get players who have probably got Premier League experience, can hit the ground running and don’t need much setting up,” said Moyes. “We can also look to bring in players coming to the end of their career, which would help us hopefully.

“For example, you could probably say Victor (Anichebe) and Steven (Pienaar), along with Jordan Pickford and Jermain Defoe, have been our best players and they were both free transfers. So it’s not to say free transfers could not come in and do an immediate job and help us a little bit.

“The younger players who were beginning to have a shoot of life are currently out. They’re suddenly out of the picture. I’m trying to find a way of keeping that bed of flowers growing somehow, but sometimes you’ve just got to get what you’re given.”