DAVID MOYES is hoping to make some cut-price additions to his squad this month, but the Sunderland boss concedes it will be difficult to persuade players to sign up for a relegation fight.

Moyes’ January dealing will be severely restricted by the financial constraints imposed by owner Ellis Short, who does not want to increase his club’s £140m debt while he is looking to sell at least some of his 100 per cent stake.

Nevertheless, having recruited Steven Pienaar and Victor Anichebe as free agents earlier this season, the Sunderland boss remains hopeful of completing another couple of low-cost signings before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

He has been monitoring a number of players including Bournemouth defender Tyrone Mings and Ipswich centre-half Adam Webster, but accepts it will not be easy to push through deals with his side sitting in 18th position in the table.

“We are looking for players,” said Moyes, who will be without Lamine Kone, Didier Ndong and Wahbi Khazri for the next month as the trio compete in the Africa Cup of Nations. “By looking, I don’t mean that we’re in there spending millions and millions.

“But are we looking at players and thinking about a few things? Yes we are. Although, in our position, it’s not always that easy to attract players to the club.”

Moyes remains adamant Jermain Defoe will not be leaving Wearside this month, even though Crystal Palace became the latest club to be strongly linked with a move for the striker at the weekend.

West Ham’s interest has not disappeared, despite an imminent £12.5m deal for Brentford’s Scott Hogan, but Moyes does not feel the Hammers’ public courting has unsettled Defoe and was happy to start with the 34-year-old at the weekend.

“I thought it was an easy decision to play him (Defoe) because I want to get through,” he said. “I think if we hadn’t played him, people would rightly have asked why.

“There was an awful lot of talk about playing a lot of young players, and I thought to myself, ‘Well if needed, we will do. But if not, I don’t need to’. I just told him he was playing, and we got on with it.”