O’Neill plans a triple swoop (From The Northern Echo)

O’Neill plans a triple swoop

11:27am Tuesday 31st January 2012 in Sunderland AFC News By Paul Fraser, Chief Football Writer

MARTIN O’NEILL made a renewed bid to land Bolton’s Kevin Davies last night as the Sunderland manager pressed ahead with plans to pull off a triple transfer coup.

After weeks of playing down talk that he would be a big mover in the January transfer window, a series of injuries to his squad have forced him to rethink his plans.

And while there is unlikely to be a significant spending spree, O’Neill is hoping to bring in three new faces before tonight’s 11pm deadline.

Bolton’s long-serving target- man Davies is his priority and, after having an initial loan offer rebuffed, Sunderland are now looking at giving him an 18-month deal.

And it has emerged that Manchester City’s out-offavour full-back Wayne Bridge is another leading candidate to arrive at the Stadium of Light.

Davies, 34, is out of contract at the Reebok Stadium at the end of the season and O’Neill had been hoping to take over the remaining term of his contract.

The forward, however, is believed to be only interested in a move that gives him greater security, which could tempt the Trotters to sell.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle had indicated earlier yesterday he was unwilling to sell Davies “regardless of the offer” unless the player told him it was something he wanted “to look at”.

With Nicklas Bendtner facing weeks on the sidelines through injury, O’Neill is keen to bring in a streetwise striker capable of making an instant mark and helping the younger forwards at the club.

“Someone like Davies would improve the squad but we would also get a senior player who could teach Connor Wickham to play centreforward, improve him,” said O’Neill. “That would be excellent, someone to step in and obviously help us long the way would be great. The young lads we have here would learn an awful lot from him.”

With Bolton standing firm, Sunderland will have to be determined, but also be wary they could run out of time in bringing in an alternative if Coyle shows no sign of backing down.

Over the last seven days it had become clear that O’Neill – who has always been an admirer of Aston Villa’s Emile Heskey – was really only concerned about bringing in an extra striker.

But because of injuries to Wes Brown and David Vaughan during Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough in the FA Cup, the Sunderland boss has had to have a late look at other possibilities on the transfer front.

Vaughan and Brown both had scans on respective ligament injuries yesterday, with the former expected to be out for a “number of weeks”. And with skipper Lee Cattermole also nursing a niggling hamstring problem, midfield has become a concern.

He is also keen on an extra defender to fill up his 25-man squad for the rest of the season.

The likes of Stilyan Petrov, Hugo Almeida, Matthew Upson and Wayne Bridge have been mentioned, but O’Neill was not giving anything away.

He said: “We have a couple of injury problems, just when you thought there was light at the end of the tunnel, that we were getting a few people back then it changes.

“Suddenly, you play a game, you lose a couple of players and you are less than 36, 37 hours away from transfer deadline. As I have often said here, which has always been my concern, on February 1, that’s it, so we might have to look at some sort of loans.”

O’Neill has been pleased with the progress of Fraizer Campbell. The striker ended 17 months out of the first team picture by emerging from the bench to grab the equaliser on Sunday.

“We weren’t the quickest and it’s nice to be able to inject that (pace),” said O’Neill, who is not sure whether Campbell is ready to start against Norwich tomorrow night.

Campbell was sore yesterday morning when he warmed down at the Academy of Light so he will be treated carefully to avoid any setbacks after his long lay-off with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

But the 24-year-old, who was often in and amongst the Sunderland fans at matches during his spell out, is excited and confident the worst is over.

He said: “It was really a bit of therapy for me to see the lads play. I went to stacks of away grounds last year. I remember going to Blackpool with all the away fans. I stood in with them in a stand which was shaking all the time. It was brilliant.

“I tried to go disguised, but it didn’t last very long. I tried to cover myself up and wear a hood but it was a pretty warm night and I was sweating, so I was there in a T-shirt and I got noticed very quickly. I didn’t mind at all as the fans were amazing.”