PHIL PARKINSON is looking to capitalise on Sunderland’s recent resurgence by adding to his squad this week after holding a transfer summit at the Academy of Light.

The Black Cats boss has followed up Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Lincoln City by having a meeting with owner Stewart Donald and the club’s recruitment chiefs Tony Coton and Richard Hill to hear update on the recruitment drive.

Sunderland have been quoted a £500,000 price-tag for Leeds United right-back Lewie Coyle because his loan at Fleetwood, who he played for against the Wearside outfit on New Year’s Day, ended over the weekend.

The 24-year-old played the last game of his initial loan at Fleetwood in the FA Cup and now Leeds are looking for that six-figure sum even though he is out of contract in the summer.

Coyle would provide the sort of competition that Parkinson has wanted for Luke O’Nien on the right, while he is also capable of slotting into midfield or operating on the left of the defence.

Sunderland are one of the clubs keen, but it is unclear whether they will be willing to pay that fee so they might have to wait until the end of the month to see if Leeds will change their stance. He has impressed in his 28 appearances for Town this season.

Parkinson is known to have identified a few areas of his squad that needs improvement and Donald has reassured him that he will be backed to make signings despite recently admitting that he wants to sell the club.

Bristol City’s powerful teenage striker Antoine Semenyo is in his sights along with Sheffield Wednesday’s Sam Winnall. Both forwards are attracting plenty of interest from the Football League.

Sunderland know they have a sizeable squad by League One standards already but Parkinson is willing to listen to offers for a number of his players.

He has shown in the five-match unbeaten run that he now has a preferred line-up in mind, and he would be happy to consider approaches for others finding it harder to nail down shirt.

Parkinson’s predecessor Jack Ross has already singled out Dylan McGeouch and Jon McLaughlin as players he would like to take north to Hiberian. Sources in Edinburgh also claim that Marc McNulty, on loan from Reading, is another who could end up being reunited with Ross at Easter Road.

The former Sunderland manager lost his job in October despite losing just two of his last 14 matches in charge, but there had been a dip in performance levels and it has emerged in recent weeks that the dressing room atmosphere had taken a hit.

But, speaking in Scotland, Ross has described how it came as a surprise when he lost his job and that the experience at the Stadium of Light has not taken its toll on him.

The Scot said: “I think when you get sacked, the majority of times it’s because you are having a horrendous run. You probably, through that horrendous run, ponder all the rights and the wrongs of it.

“But we had lost two out of 14 games so I wasn’t in this cycle of thinking: ‘oh my God, I am under massive pressure here, I’m going to lose my job’.

“If you lose six, seven, eight games in a row you probably start thinking: ‘I’m not sure if I want to go through that again’. I felt at Sunderland we were in a different set of circumstances so I felt OK.

“I didn’t feel damaged in any way. I felt alright about it, so that might have helped me come back so quickly too.

“I was sacked on the Tuesday and probably woke up Wednesday morning believing I was a better manager. On the Tuesday I was under so much pressure all the time because you had to win every single week.

“Then on the Wednesday I woke up and people have started to look at us only losing ten of 75 games overall and two of 14 this season. It maybe wasn’t that bad.

“That’s maybe a strange set of circumstances to be sacked. I loved my job there. Sunderland’s a brilliant club and there are so many good people there who I want to see do well. So I don’t look and think: ‘Oh they’re not winning games now so that’s a vindication of me, proof I was doing OK’.”