SIMON GRAYSON admits Sunderland will be vulnerable to losing some of their biggest names right up to the final hours of the transfer window, but insists he has plans in place to enable him to replace any departing stars quickly.

The Black Cats have already seen more than a dozen senior players leave since the end of the season, but further departures are anticipated before the transfer window closes in a little over a fortnight’s time.

Lamine Kone and Wahbi Khazri are the most likely players to leave, with Sunderland having rejected an £18m offer for the former from Everton 12 months ago, but Didier Ndong and Lee Cattermole are also understood to be the subject of mounting interest.

Kone, Ndong and Cattermole have been key factors in Sunderland’s strong start to the season, but as he steps up his preparations for tomorrow’s trip to Sheffield Wednesday, Grayson admits he cannot guarantee any of the trio remaining on Wearside beyond the end of the month.

“Football clubs up and down the country are looking to bring in good players, and that’s what we’re trying to do with the players we’re looking to bring to the football club too,” said the Sunderland boss. “Other clubs might well be doing the same with some of our players.

“Every club looks for talented players, and we’ve got plenty of them on our books. They should be interesting a lot of people, but hopefully we can keep the players and get something going that we’re trying to create.”

While Grayson is not actively looking to lose any of the players currently on Sunderland’s books, he accepts a decision will be taken out of his hands if chief executive Martin Bain receives an offer he does not feel he can reject.

In that scenario, Grayson would expect to receive a chunk of any transfer fee to reinvest in the squad, and the Sunderland boss has already compiled a list of potential targets in a variety of positions.

Lincoln City defender Sean Raggett is understood to be one of the players currently under consideration from the lower leagues, with Grayson also extremely keen to sign either Jordan Hugill or Ross McCormack to supplement his attacking options.

“I’ve got plans of x,y and z being here or not being here,” he said. “You have to be one step ahead and aware of any eventuality.

“If we don’t lose any players, I’ll be more than happy, but you have to plans in place in case something happens. While the window is still open, every club is vulnerable to players leaving.”

Sunderland have made seven additions since Grayson’s appointment was confirmed, but the squad continues to lack depth in some key areas, most notably in attack and at the heart of the defence.

Nevertheless, if the window was to close now with no further incomings or outgoings, Grayson would be relatively happy with his squad.

“If there was no more business, I’d think we’ve got a talented group, although we probably haven’t got a real strength in depth as it stands at this moment in time,” he said. “That said, Duncan Watmore will be back soon, Bryan Oveido is back training with us and Paddy McNair won’t be too far away.

“Donald Love and Jack Rodwell were out of the squad at the weekend because we didn’t want to make changes from the Derby game, so the strength in depth is okay, although we’d like a little bit more because of the number of games we’ve got right the way through to January. But if we kept the same squad, I wouldn’t be overly disappointed.”

Grayson’s optimism will have been fuelled by Sunday’s display at Carrow Road, with the Black Cats impressing in all areas of the field as they claimed a 3-1 win over Norwich City.

The victory, which was Sunderland’s first league success in August since 2010, followed a draw with Derby County and a Carabao Cup win at Bury, and has led to a renewed sense of hope amongst a fan base that had grown accustomed to disappointment for the majority of the last decade.

Grayson is keen to stress his rebuilding job remains at a formative stage, but is happy to see supporters experiencing a sense of excitement ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Hillsborough.

“I want the supporters to be excited, enjoying themselves and seeing a positive vibe off everybody,” he said. “But they’ve still got to be realistic that we’re not going to win every game over the course of the season.

“When we do lose a game, don’t get too pessimistic, and don’t get too carried away when we’re winning. It’s never easy to do that as a football fan because you can go from one extreme to another very quickly.

“They’ve (the fans) been starved of a lot of positive things over a number of years now. So why not enjoy the times when it’s going well because they’ve suffered so many bad times? But also have a sense of realism that it’s not going to be like this every week. But hopefully more often than not.”