Sunderland will only sign 'high-quality footballers,' vows Kristjaan Speakman

Kristjaan Speakman says Sunderland are only interested in ‘high-quality players’ despite how challenging it is to get them.

Sunderland suffered an injury blow in January when Ross Stewart went down with a season-ending Achilles injury in an FA Cup tie at Fulham.

The club then angered many supporters by not signing a replacement in the last few days of the transfer window, even if it was as a stop-gap measure.

Speakman, though, says the days of signing players to just fill a spot in the squad are over and the bar has been significantly raised for the standard a player needs to meet to play for Sunderland – even if they are much harder to find.

“I think there are obviously some cultural differences, there are some language differences which I think you have to overcome,” Speakman told 5 Live.

“We’d like to think that we can overcome those with some really good processes and education internally in both our own staff and for the players that come in

“Ultimately we’re interested in high-quality players, and high quality players that are interested in coming and delivering for Sunderland.

“We tried to, at the front and centre our recruitment process is our values around what Sunderland is and what Sunderland isn’t, and we’ve been fortunate to attract some real high-quality players which I think you are now starting to mature into the team.”

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