STEVE BRUCE has told Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn to work on thrashing out a deal for Ghana’s World Cup hero Asamoah Gyan after admitting he intends to replace Kenwyne Jones with a “top class striker”.

Jones’ surprise departure to Stoke City on Wednesday brings at least £8m back into the Stadium of Light and Bruce hopes to use a large portion of that fee on bringing in a more consistent forward.

He is interested in signing Craig Bellamy, but Tottenham are winning the race to sign him from Manchester City and the Sunderland boss is working on alternatives.

Gyan, subject of a £10m offer from Fenerbahce rejected by Rennes earlier this summer, is Bruce’s preferred choice to offer an alternative option to Darren Bent, Fraizer Campbell and Danny Welbeck.

Nice striker Loic Remy has also been under consideration, while Bruce has also shown an interest Germany’s Cacau and Chile’s Humberto Suazo in the past.

Gyan, however, is his No 1 target.

The 24-year-old, whose three goals helped Ghana to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, is rated at around £12m by his French employers, with Sunderland hoping to persuade Rennes to lower their valuation.

Bruce was in no mood to give away too many clues about the type of forward he will be targeting, but did suggest it will not necessarily be a like-for-like replacement.

“I’m not unduly worried about a targetman as such,”

said Bruce, who confirmed the arrival of Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck on a season-long loan.

“The most important thing is that we replace Kenwyne and we can’t heap all that on Danny Welbeck just because he’s a young player from Manchester United.

“My mind is open. There are one or two or three, four things we’ve got in the pipeline at the moment, so we’ll see.

“Whether I can bring them in, needs to be seen. Kenwyne’s transfer only happened on Wednesday, so I’m not close to anything just yet.”

Having already sealed the deal for Welbeck, Sunderland are likely to embark on a hectic few weeks before the deadline for transfers passes on August 31.

Another two moves that look certain to take place by the middle of next week will see Anton Ferdinand join Italian club Palermo on a seasonlong loan and Matt Kilgallon heading to Middlesbrough until Christmas.

Bruce, who named Lee Cattermole as his team captain and Bolo Zenden as club captain, remains interested in taking Wigan winger Charles N’Zogbia to Wearside, although none of the deals are likely to spring a surprise quite like that which led to Jones’ departure this week.

“It all started at Christmas with the Liverpool debacle,”

said Bruce, who became increasingly frustrated with his failure to get the best out of Jones on a regular basis.

“Whether that turned his head, I’m not too sure.

“The timing was right.

Sometimes you go past your sell-by date.

“With Kenwyne, on his day, we all know he can be unplayable.

“But for me I wanted it repeatedly, every day and he found that difficult in the end here. I wish him the best of luck, I really, really do but think it is best for both parties.”

Claims from Stoke suggested Jones was given a pay-off from Sunderland to make up for a drop in wages at the Brittania Stadium. Stoke are paying the initial £8m fee over a period of four years.

Bruce is aware of the scepticism among the fans following Jones’ sale, but is more than satisfied he can make the same frustrated supporters accept the situation sooner rather than later.

“The big thing for the supporters – and for me – is who am I going to replace Kenwyne with? That’s vital,” said Bruce, suggesting he would be unable to tempt Tottenham to part with Peter Crouch.

“I’ve never asked the question here before because I’ve never had to, but with the money we’ve got from Kenwyne, we’ll look to put it back in to a top-class striker, if I can find one.

“It’s important people trust me. Sometimes in management you have to be trusted and I think it’s something like 26 or 27 players out now, which is a huge number and I still think there’s a bit to go, that it’s not finished yet.

“I must try to do that, try and make sure we keep building the squad.”

■ Alex McLeish insists he is ‘‘relaxed’’ about his future at Birmingham and revealed a new 12-month rolling contract will come into effect when his present deal runs out next summer. McLeish is negotiating an improved contract as a reward for steering Birmingham to a top-10 finish last season.

McLeish said: ‘‘The contract situation is ongoing.

That probably sums it up. I’m fine.’’ Keeper Ben Foster is expected to be fit tomorrow despite withdrawing from the England squad to face Hungary with a back spasm.