STEWART DONALD insists he has the best interests for Sunderland at heart after revealing there are “two serious” investors being considered to help take the club forward.

The Black Cats are this week having to come to terms with the prospect of a second consecutive season in League One after losing Sunday’s play-off final at Wembley.

A failure to return to the Championship means Sunderland will be looking at ways to bring the club’s finances further in line with the division they are in, and losing out on an extra boost in TV revenue that second tier football would have brought.

Donald has had to deny suggestions he bought Sunderland with a look to make a “quick-profit” in the last week, having had the details of how parachute payments have been used to buy Ellis Short out at the Stadium of Light.

But he has admitted he is looking for investment to help Sunderland grow, which ideally would see him stay around and be part of a revival having been faced with the claims he is looking to sell.

Donald said: “I don’t want to sell it in its entirety. I don’t think anyone who has approached us and said ‘we’ll buy the club’ - we aren’t getting people I think - they’re saying we’ll go on a journey.  “Well what will you do? ‘We’ll employ some people’. Will you move to the area? ‘No.’ That would be no good for the club, that’s my judgement.

“They haven’t come along and offered anything, I think, Sunderland need. Some people have come along and offered investment and it’s on the wrong basis.

“There’s a couple of people who have offered investment and want a lot of control, and I’m sort of saying ‘well can I keep a bit more? Can we do this?’ We’re having those conversations.

“There are, I would say, two serious options where I think people would be good for the club. But can we get the right deal for everybody? And what I mean by that is not a deal where I just go ‘I just want to stay so I’m going to be detrimental to the club’, one that I feel can build on what we’ve done. That’s what we’re looking at.

“Will something happen over the summer? Possibly.”

Sunderland are set for a couple of financial boosts. It has emerged Lamine Kone is expected to finalise a £1m move to Strasbourg where he has played 31 times on loan this season.

And Wahbi Khazri’s successful switch to St Etienne last year has led to them qualifying for the Europa League and finishing fourth in Ligue 1 which has also triggered a £1m clause in that deal.

There are other high earners Sunderland could look to move on, claiming that offloading just one could free up the space for as many as four League One footballers on the wage bill. Donald, though, has insisted manager Jack Ross does not need to sell.

But he has big ideas. Donald, speaking to Roker Report, said: “I think if we could do a Sheffield United, if we could have Jack Ross follow that Chris Wilder path, etc, and we don’t spend too much and get into the model where some of the Premeir League clubs don’t lose money and we run ourselves well and we spend our money well, then we could do this (get to the Premier League) on our own.

“The problem we’ve got is we can’t make many mistakes. If we make them, and the money goes dry then actually our investment goes down.

“Our desperation to do a deal goes up and you’re tempted to get the wrong person in. I’ve had lots of people come on to me.

 “I’ll show you my phone now, I’ve had someone come on to me and said ‘I’ll buy the club’. He asked me six weeks ago and is chasing me this morning. I haven’t even got back to him, because it’s not right for the club.”

There is an argument Sunderland made a mistake in allowing leading scorer Josh Maja to leave for Bordeaux in January for £3m. He was replaced by Will Grigg, whose £4m move didn’t go to plan because he only found the net four times in the league.

Grigg said: “There's disappointment and everyone will have their time to get their heads round it, get the emotions out the way. We'll be back in probably four weeks and it'll be back to business, trying to rectify and put everything right.

“For me personally, I want to get a good pre-season and hit the ground running. This is the first time I've fallen short in this league. It's been a disappointing season for myself and I want to make sure it doesn't happen again next season.”