SAM ALLARDYCE believes that if his players maintain the level of performance shown in the win at Crystal Palace he will have no reason to dip into the transfer market in January.

Having already stated that Sunderland’s activity in the winter window will be limited, the Black Cats’ manager does not want to bring in a raft of new players knowing that the personnel brought in over the summer are still finding their feet on Wearside.

Speculation has surrounded the future of striker Jermain Defoe, who scored the winner at Selhurst Park on Monday, with Bournemouth reportedly showing an interest in the former England international.

While Allardyce would not be drawn on the 32-year-old’s future at the Stadium of Light, he did outline Sunderland’s transfer policy going into the window.

“There is everything before a January transfer window thrown out and churned out on social media and the media world, saying this is going to happen and that is going to happen,” said the 61-year-old.

“At the end of the day, whatever happens, if I get a phone call saying this or that, that determines what happens with one of your players. If I ring an opposition manager or football club and I want one of their players, what determines if that player is available of isn’t available changes day by day.

“There’s no definite players that we know of [here] going out. In terms of a specific player, we don’t know.

“At this moment in time, we don’t know a definite player who is coming in, because we’re just starting to pull up who we think might be available.

“I think the business done in January will be minimal, I don’t think it will be great or extensive. It’s too small of a window to find what you need, which are players who are of greater quality. If you make too many changes, we’re already trying to find a solution and a solidarity to our squad, so to introduce another four or five players might actually cause more harm than good.”

Defoe is set to be involved in the Premier League match against Stoke City tomorrow having made a full recovery from an ankle knock sustained in South London, and Allardyce has called on him and his teammates to build some consistency and achieve Sunderland’s first back to back wins since May.

“He needs to keep scoring goals,” said Allardyce, who allowed Liam Bridcutt to join Leeds United on a month’s loan yesterday. “If he keeps scoring goals and the rest of the team stop conceding them, he is going to be where we go.

“Like I said, last season was a season of struggle because Sunderland couldn’t score enough goals. I do think we have enough goals. Last season it was Connor Wickham with five and Steven Fletcher with five who were the leading goalscorers. 13 clean sheets kept Sunderland up, so if we can get that solidity back, then I think we’ve got more goals in the team.

“Jermain has already scored four and Steven Fletcher has scored four and that’s not counting what Duncan Watmore might score, or Fabio Borini might score if he plays. We’ve bought Fabio to score at least six, seven or eight goals. Duncan, we don’t know because he’s young, but he could be a major asset. Danny Graham if he gets a chance and that doesn’t include the midfield and from set-plays. I think we’ve got goals, so if we can stop them going in, we will achieve what we want to achieve.”

Allardyce does not see the value in the January transfer window, although one or two additions might help Sunderland’s battle against the drop.

“If one or two went out, I’d be surprised,” said the former Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United manager. “I just don’t see the window for anybody being very active. I know where the players are [that I’d like] but I don’t know if I can get them. I they aren’t better than what we’ve already got, you may as well say no and keep the group of players that you have.

“The players we’ve already got here are going to get us out of trouble, not the players we bring in.

“You would hope they would help, a little bit, but it’s the players who are here who are going to be the mainstay of whether we get out of trouble or not. They’ve just shown a certain amount of capability in the performance we have just put in [against Palace] so if they stick with that, we’re going to get out of trouble.

“But if they choose to be spiky and by that I mean up and down, inconsistent, that’s no good. As a professional player you have to be consistent.”