JOHN O'SHEA thinks Sunderland should be satisfied by the turnaround under Martin O'Neill but hopes transfer plans are already in place to ensure the football at the Stadium of Light goes from strength to strength next season.

Sunderland's lack of strength in depth is likely to be further highlighted in the final few weeks of the season after yesterday's confirmation that both Seb Larsson and Kieran Richardson will miss the final three games after hernia operations.

There are also concerns over Lee Cattermole's knee problem, which could prevent him from playing until pre-season, and he is expected to be out of tomorrow's visit of Bolton.

Under O'Neill there has been a dramatic turnaround, having gone from relegation contenders to genuine hopefuls for a top eight finish despite a recent run of five league games without a win in the Premier League.

And while encouraged by the renaissance before the recent blip, O'Shea thinks owner Ellis Short and O'Neill will already be thinking about investing in the squad during the close-season.

Sunderland are already looking at a number of options and Blackburn winger Junior Hoilett is among those being considered.

And O'Shea, the former Manchester United defender, said: "You would like to think the manager and the owner will get together, they probably already have, to talk about strengthening in the summer.

"Fingers crossed they will and we can then kick on again. First it would help if we can get two top ten finishes in a row, that's the aim.

"We will have to look to improve on that again. It will be difficult because you look at the finances of some of the teams in the Premier League and you have no chance. With some you can't compete, but we can compete for the top six or top seven in the table."

O'Shea has summer plans of his own, knowing he will be meeting up for the European Championships with the Republic of Ireland squad in late May.

Firstly, though, he is keen to ensure Sunderland end their recent slump by increasing the relegation worries on Bolton at the Stadium of Light tomorrow after last weekend's goalless draw at Aston Villa.

"When you come away from a Premier League away game it is a good sign that we are disappointed to have just got a point," he said. "We created plenty, we have thrown away four points recently and we just have to get back to winning ways."

While there has been disappointment after dropping back in to the bottom half of the table on the back of the FA Cup quarter-final replay defeat to Everton, O'Shea feels the over-riding feeling should be one of satisfaction.

"When we take stock of the full season from the position we were in to the position we are in now, we have to take that as a positive," he said. "But in the last five or six games we have not played as well as we can do.

"Whether that is a bit of fatigue kicking in through the massive turnaround we have had, I don't know. We were scoring goals and playing well against whatever opposition we had.

"But when you consider we were down the near relegation zone and to think we were comfortable with seven or eight games remaining then that says a lot about the players we have here."

Sunderland will have to head in to the final few games without Larsson and Richardson. It was yesterday confirmed that both have had surgery on hernia problems, ruling them out for the remainder of the campaign.

Larsson has been struggling in recent weeks and has been given permission to have it treated now to give him a chance of being fit for Sweden's Euro 2012 push.