FORMER Arsenal and Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor is still looking for a new Premier League club and Sunderland have been asked if they are interested.

David Moyes, the Black Cats boss, insisted earlier this week he is unlikely to make further free agent signings and the club are adamant a deal is not on the cards.

But Adebayor’s representatives are believed to have been in touch with Sunderland to determine if they will have a rethink and do a deal because of a shortage of attacking options.

Moyes has signed former West Brom and Everton striker Victor Anichebe since the transfer window closed but he is yet to figure while he builds up his fitness.

Sunderland were forced to field young strikers Joel Asoro and Josh Maja at Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday night along with 22-year-old Duncan Watmore in the absence of the rested Jermain Defoe.

Moyes knows how important Defoe is to his squad this season so was protecting his fitness ahead of this Saturday’s visit of Crystal Palace to the Stadium of Light.

Palace, ironically, are the team Adebayor left at the end of last season and he has been looking for a new employer since.

He is open to the idea of staying in the Premier League and only yesterday claims from France emerged that a move to Lyon broke down after a meeting with manager Bruno Genesio.

He claimed the player had asked for a shot of whisky in his coffee and had a cigarette in his mouth and that led to the deal breaking down, although Adebayor insists it was because the Togo captain refused to pull out of the Africa Cup of Nations early next year.

Sunderland are looking to climb out of the Premier League relegation zone and are desperate for a lift after the midweek EFL Cup win at Loftus Road.

Two-goal Paddy McNair thinks life at Manchester United has provided the perfect grounding to cope with the strains of trying to transform Sunderland into a top-flight force.

Things have not gone as smoothly as McNair would have liked since his summer switch from Old Trafford when his former boss David Moyes persuaded him to head to the Stadium of Light.

The Black Cats are without a win in five in the league and the Northern Ireland international suffered a frustrating start when he scored an own goal that ended in defeat at Manchester City on the opening weekend.

He has had to spend time on the bench too, but his first two senior goals at Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday night helped to set up a fourth round trip to Southampton in the EFL Cup on October 25.

Before that, however, he needs to find his feet in the Premier League and so do Sunderland who are still looking for a first win in either August or September since 2012. McNair, though, is confident he can deal with the situation.

“Do I feel the pressure? Not really because I’ve played at Man Utd,” he said. “You don’t get bigger pressure than there, so I just take it in my stride.

“Man Utd is one of the biggest clubs in the world so it is a little bit different. But there is still pressure to win games at Sunderland. Our fans come and expect us to win. So in that way it is similar.

“There is a difference in terms of possession when you play for Manchester United, but I play for Northern Ireland so I’m used to it when I play there!

“Even when sometimes playing for Man Utd and we played away at Arsenal, we only had 35 per cent possession. So I’ve played plenty of games not having the ball.”

After a frustrating start to the campaign, Sunderland can head into back-to-back home dates with Crystal Palace and West Brom on the back of a much-needed victory at QPR.

He said: “It was a disappointing result at the weekend at Tottenham so it gives us a bit of momentum going into the games, which is what we have to start doing.

“You want to get off to a good start and it wasn’t the start we wanted, we know that. It’s a long season so you have to keep your head up and take the positives away from the games. I’m confident we can still do well this season.”

To do well Moyes could do with having McNair repeat his Loftus Road double more often this season. He was seen as an unusual source of the goals in West London to steer Sunderland through, although his manager claimed afterwards it was a ‘misconception’.

McNair admitted: “Until I was 18, I played in midfield. Louis van Gaal played me at centre-back. So a lot of people think I’m a defender but I’ve not really ever been a defender. In midfield, a No 10, I’ll play wherever - so long as I score two!

“When I was younger I scored a few goals so I’ve always chipped in. But I’ve waited a while for my first senior goal. I think my best position is left or right of a three in midfield.”