Black Cats continue to push for Leonardo Ulloa

The Black Cats added two more players to their ranks yesterday, with Bryan Oviedo and Darron Gibson moving from Everton in a £7.5m double deal.

Patrick van Aanholt completed his £14m move to Crystal Palace, but Sunderland’s most significant deal of the transfer window could still be in the offing with Ulloa having pledged to go on strike if Leicester do not allow him to leave ahead of this evening’s 11pm deadline.

With David Moyes determined to add to his attacking ranks following an injury to Victor Anichebe, Black Cats officials have tabled three separate offers for Ulloa.

The most recent, which matched Leicester’s £7m asking price, was rejected yesterday morning, with the Foxes adamant they will not be selling the 30-year-old to one of their rivals in the bottom half of the table.

Leicester have also turned down approaches from Galatasaray and Alaves, but Ulloa attempted to take things into his own hands last night when he issued a tweet refusing to play for the reigning Premier League champions again if he is prevented from leaving the King Power Stadium.

Ulloa said: “With all respect for LCFC fans. I feel betrayed by Ranieri and let down by the club. I will not play again for them...”

Having signed Oviedo and Gibson yesterday, Ulloa is Sunderland’s only remaining target, and Moyes concedes he is unlikely to be able to turn elsewhere if he cannot persuade Leicester to part with the Argentinian.

With Anichebe injured and van Aanholt having joined Palace, Fabio Borini will be the only player in tonight’s starting line-up against Tottenham other than Jermain Defoe to have scored a Premier League goal this season.

That is an extremely alarming statistic, but Moyes admits Sunderland’s financial restraints have made it difficult to adequately address the situation this month.

“Hopefully, there’ll be one more (signing),” said the Black Cats boss. “Maybe another one. Maybe. A striker would be the priority, but there’s not half a dozen of them sat there so I can say if I don’t get him I’ll go for the next one or the one after that.

“We need a type - not a big old-fashioned centre-forward, but someone who can give us a starting point and allow Jermain to play around him. There’s just not that many out there. I don’t know if you could come up with many who would come, were gettable and good enough.”

Had van Aanholt not left, Sunderland might not have been able to sign anyone other than free agent Joleon Lescott, but while he did not have to sell the left-back even though Palace were willing to bid £14m, Moyes opted to move him on in order to free up some space on the wage bill.

Van Aanholt has signed a four-and-a-half year deal at Selhurst Park, and his departure represents a rare financial success for Sunderland, who paid £1.5m to sign him from Chelsea in 2014.

“I knew he wanted to go, and I thought we had a pretty good offer for him,” said Moyes. “That made my mind up and made it a lot easier.

“I needed to change things around and I had to try something. It also allowed me to raise the ceiling on my wages, which was going to be a problem. But it was my choice, and not Ellis’ (Short).

“I felt as if we needed to attempt to do something. We could have sat and said, ‘This is it’, but I had to find a way of making sure we were doing deals.”

Oviedo has arrived as van Aanholt’s replacement, with the Costa Rica international signing a three-and-a-half year deal at the Stadium of Light.

Moyes initially signed the full-back from FC Copenhagen, but Oviedo has not featured in Everton’s first team since he was hauled off before half-time in November’s 5-0 defeat at Chelsea.

“He (Moyes) gives me confidence and I need to work hard for him and the team,” said Oviedo. “I know a lot of people at the club from the start.

“I want to play and help the team to be out of the relegation zone. At the moment we have a difficult moment, but I know we can do better in the next months. I am fit and can play as soon as the staff want to put me in the team.”

Gibson has signed an 18-month deal, and will be desperate to reignite his career after making just 38 Premier League starts since joining Everton in January 2012.

“I’ve had a frustrating two seasons to say the least,” said Gibson. “I’m at the stage of my career where I need to play games and start enjoying my football again. When I got the phone call, I was delighted to have the opportunity to play under the manager again.”

Nine members of the current Sunderland squad have worked with Moyes at either Everton or Manchester United, but the Scotsman has denied he has only pursued players he knows.

“I’ve tried for one or two others, so to say I’m only going for players I know is not true,” he said. “It’s actually the players who have been available and have said, ‘Yeah, I’ll have a go at that’.”

Jordan Pickford has returned to light training, but is not available for tonight’s game with Spurs. Lynden Gooch has played in a development game, and could feature in the squad, while Lamine Kone and Didier Ndong are both available after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Sunderland (possible, 4-3-3): Mannone; Jones, Kone, O’Shea, Love; Ndong, Denayer, Larsson; Borini, Defoe, Januzaj.