SUNDERLAND are ready to play hardball over Adnan Januzaj as French club Lyon try to persuade Manchester United to part with the forward.

Lyon are understood to have been in talks with United for a number of weeks aimed at doing a £15m double deal for Memphis Depay and Januzaj.

The chances of landing the latter, however, are complicated by the fact he is on loan at the Stadium of Light for the rest of the season.

And even if the fee was sufficient enough to tempt Jose Mourinho, the Manchester United boss, into selling then Sunderland would have to be persuaded to cut short the season-long loan agreement.

David Moyes, the Sunderland manager, is looking to add to his squad this month rather than lose more key players, given the extent of the injury problems and absentees his squad has.

While Januzaj has not been brilliant or consistent since his switch from Old Trafford last summer, he has started to perform better in recent weeks after recovering from his most recent injury.

Mourinho always stated that he was keen for the Belgian to head out on loan so that he can keep an eye on him, although the fact he has hardly been a star attraction on Wearside could influence his thinking.

Moyes, though, does not have the luxury of a hefty squad and knows he needs better attacking options to keep Sunderland in the Premier League rather than lose a player whose importance has recently grown.

Sunderland are weighing up what moves to make of their own on the transfer front despite knowing that there is little money available to spend on new players.

Losing Januzaj would not bring in the sort of cash required to reinvest in the squad, it would merely free up more room on the wages front.

Moyes has already shown this month that he is prepared to dig in and keep what he feels can help Sunderland stay up by fending off interest from West Ham in top scorer Jermain Defoe.

The Hammers, who have so far been unable to bring in the new additions manager Slaven Bilic craves, could yet return with a fresh offer before the end of the month after being knocked back with the £6m bid.

Earlier this week David Gold, the West Ham co-owner, suggested they would not be prepared to go above their valuation for Defoe, knowing he will be 35 later this year and would not carry much of a resale value.

Sunderland don’t look like confirming any transfer business before this Saturday’s return to Premier League action against Stoke City.

Moyes’ men are looking to build on two draws at the start of 2017 in the league and the FA Cup, having recovered from a 4-1 drubbing on New Year’s Eve at Burnley.

Sunderland remain a point shy of safety and goalkeeper Vito Mannone has been encouraged enough to think they can climb out by stunning Stoke at the Stadium of Light.

Mannone said: “It’s an important game for us because they’re only nine points ahead of us and a win makes it six.

“They’ve shown how quickly you can move up the table if you can put together a run of wins, so hopefully we can do that and start with three points on Saturday.

“Our form at the Stadium of Light has been very good in recent months and we want to build on that this weekend.”