JEREMAIN LENS is delighted Sunderland moved so quickly to appoint David Moyes as their new manager, and claims the former Manchester United and Everton boss will be starting from a strong base as he looks to rebuild the Black Cats.

Moyes was confirmed as Sam Allardyce’s successor less than 24 hours after his predecessor was installed as England’s new manager, with Sunderland owner Ellis Short clearly determined to keep disruption to a minimum with the start of the new season fast approaching.

The Black Cats travel to Manchester City for their opening Premier League fixture in less than three weeks’ time, and Lens admits it was imperative Moyes was appointed as quickly as possible.

“We saw him (Moyes) for a couple of minutes when he came in to say hello (at Rotherham), and it’s good to have a new manager,” said the midfielder.

“We heard Sam was leaving (on Friday) and everyone was disappointed about that. But we are happy to have a new manager with us and hopefully we can all move on together.

“It’s really good that he has been able to come in so quickly because it’s not too long until the start of the season so we couldn’t afford to be waiting for a couple of weeks. Hopefully, he can carry on the good work that the previous manager did.”

Moyes took his squad to France yesterday ahead of a week-long training camp that will play a key role in the Black Cats’ pre-season preparations.

Sunderland take on Stade Nyonnais later today in the first of the three games they have planned for their French trip, but while Moyes insists everyone will get the chance to prove themselves, he will also spend the next few days attempting to make some progress in the transfer market.

Saturday’s game with Rotherham highlighted the lack of depth within the Black Cats’ squad, but Lens claims there is no need for radical surgery with Sunderland having lost just one of their final 11 games under Allardyce.

“The new manager has some good things to work with,” he said. “Since I came here, we have had a good squad – it’s just we were a little bit unlucky at times and didn’t always look like a good team. Individually though, we have always had really good high-quality players.

“Sam made a good group out of us, with a great first XI and everybody else outside that first XI still being really important. Now, it is up to the new manager to keep that up, and maybe do even better than Sam did.”

Lens played for 86 minutes of Sunderland’s weekend win at Rotherham’s New York Stadium, and is looking forward to getting more minutes under his belt in France.

“It is going to be an important week now,” he said. “It is good for the new manager to be able to see the players, and it is also a good chance for the players to show the new manager what it is possible to do this year.

“It’s going to be a good week. The whole pre-season has been good so far, but with everything that has happened, it is even more important that we work as hard as we can in France. After that, we will see how things will go.”