CHRIS COLEMAN has admitted there are players who no longer want to be at struggling Sunderland and he will be doing everything he can to help facilitate a move away from the Stadium of Light before the end of the month.

Despite a shortage of forwards, Coleman yesterday sanctioned the go-ahead for James Vaughan to head for Wigan to finalise a permanent switch away from Wearside.

He has admitted that Didier Ndong, wanted by Watford on loan, and Lamine Kone are looking for a way out this month, while he suggested there was still another player keen to leave whose identity remains unclear.

Coleman is not really interested in striking loan agreements for the wantaways, but is working hard to strengthen his own first team options by adding men he feels will be hungry for the Black Cats’ survival fight in the Championship.

Having already added Jake Clarke-Salter to his ranks ahead of today's trip to Cardiff City, Sunderland are also in negotiations with a number of other clubs including Burnley for Irish forward Jon Walters.

Coleman said: “I think we’ve probably got three or four that would rather be somewhere else, and I would rather they were somewhere else. Because going into the situation we are in, we need people who are all in, good, bad or indifferent, as long as their mentality is with us, that’s what we need.

“Would I play them? That depends on their mentality, are they ready or are they not? It’s one thing wanting to play somewhere else, it’s another saying ‘I don’t want to play here and I’m not playing’, or ‘I’m ready to play here and do my best but eventually I see my future somewhere else’.

“If they are going to move, they are going to move. But clubs are not daft. Sometimes players think managers don’t talk about players who behave badly or you can’t depend on.

“There are no secrets in football. Players will talk about managers they have played for, but they have to remember that managers talk about players they manage or have managed. ‘Don’t touch him with a barge pole, don’t go anywhere near him, because he’s like this or that’.

“Even so, of course there are bad personalities but people take chances on players because that’s what the transfer window does, it dictates last minute signings. Players know this happens so it’s not like they will never get a move again.”

Sunderland’s position at the foot of the Championship highlights the problems which exist at the club and that is why Coleman is trying to form a squad capable of fighting to stay out of League One.

He said: “There are players who don’t want to be here so they won’t be here, ideally. We will just have the boys who want to be here. Until that happens, that’s when you can start rebuilding.

“At the end of the day, we are bottom of the league so if we lose two or three players, it’s not like we can never replace these players. Yeah we can. We can replace them and be a better stronger unit, a more together unit."

Two of the players Coleman thinks should avoid any criticism are Lee Cattermole and John O’Shea. The pair are the club’s longest serving and many fans associate them with the struggles of recent years – something Coleman feels is harsh.

He said: “We’ve got our experienced boys - John O’Shea and Lee Cattermole. For whatever reason, there seems to be a level of criticism aimed at our senior boys. What I’ve seen since I’ve been here, what I saw last week, these boys are the ones getting round everybody, saying ‘Come on, we need to do more’.

“That’s what I see from these players. I know they’ve been here a while and they’ve had ups and downs. But these are the players that we’ve got right now, these are the players who are going to help us, these are the players that I’m trying to help by bringing in fresh faces.”

Coleman, still pursuing a number of other targets, is adamant that 20-year-old Clarke-Salter is ready to slot straight into the heat of the Championship relegation fight despite a lack of experience at that level.

The Sunderland boss said: “I think for someone of his age he is vocal and opinionated. You get players who think they are opinionated and have something to say, but they haven’t. Jake has something to say. It is all about the team with him. That word again: he is committed.

“They’re old fashioned words but they mean the same thing. It is good that he doesn’t want to be at Chelsea if he is not playing. He could stay at a great club, surrounded by great players. But instead he wants to mix it here. The next six months will be fantastic for him.”

Sunderland could include Ndong and Cattermole in the squad at Cardiff today after training this week; neither are likely to start though. Kone has also trained this week but is not close to a recall.