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Sunderland signed two new players this week, boosting the ranks ahead of the new season, but Gus Poyet and Lee Congerton are not finished there with our head coach confident of more new arrivals before the Premier League starts on Saturday but before we get to that, the formalities.
Julian Speroni (Crystal Palace)
Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik (Stade Rennais)
Santiago Vergini (Estudiantes)
Marcos Alonso (Fiorentina)
Caner Erkin (Fenerbache)
Gordan Bunoza (Wisla Krakow)
Will Buckley (Brighton)
Marc Albrighton (Aston Villa)
Raul Meireles (Fenerbache)
Matt Grimes (Exeter)
Josh McEachran (Chelsea)
Diego Capel (Sporting Lisbon)
Fraizer Campbell (Cardiff)
Fabio Borini (Liverpool)
Martin Kelly (Liverpool
Moussa Sow (Fenerbahce)
Bafetimbi Gomis (Lyon)
Ever Banega (Valencia)
Jordon Mutch (Cardiff)
Daniele Dessena (Cagliari)
Giannis Maniatis (Olympiakos)
Christopher Forrester (St Pats.)
Billy Jones (West Brom)
Jordi Gomez (Wigan)
Costel Pantilimon (Man City)
Michael Mancienne (Hamburg)
Kevin Chaurand (Celaya)
Luis Pedro Cavanda (Lazio)
Ashley Williams (Swansea)
Tom Ince (Blackpool)
Luca Cigarini (Atalanta)
William Vainqueur (Standard Liege)
Luciano Vietto (Racing Club)
Kolbeinn Sigthorsson (Ajax)
Paulinho (Livorno)
Curtis Davies (Hull)
Ross McCormack (Leeds)
Yeltsin Tejeda (Saprissa)
Morgan Amalfitano (Marseille)
Rene Adler (Hamburg)
Bryan Ruiz (Fulham)
German Lux (Deportivo La Coruna)
Geoff Cameron (Stoke)
Kurt Zouma (Chelsea)
Andreas Christensen (Chelsea)
Lewis Baker (Chelsea)
Victor Moses (Chelsea)
Panagiotis Kone (Bologna)
Diego Poyet (Charlton)
Enner Valencia (Pachuca)
Jose Holebas (Olympiakos)
Djamel Mesbah (Parma)
Timothee Kolodziejczak (Nice)
Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille)
Jack Rodwell (Man City)
Nabil Bahoui (AIK)
Emmanuel Emenike (Fenerbahce)
Troy Deeney (Watford)
Jordan McGhee (Hearts)
Jamal Lascelles (Nottingham Forest)
Jose Gimenez (Atletico Madrid)
Virgil van Dijk (Celtic)
Carl Jenkinson (Arsenal)
Rod Fanni (Marseille)
Christian Fuchs (Schalke)
Muhamed Besic (Ferencvaros)
Dorin Rotariu (Dinamo Bucharest)
Michael Babatunde (Volyn Lutsk)
Max Clayton (Crewe)
Craig Mackail-Smith (Brighton)
Charlie Austin (QPR)
Samuel Eto'o (Chelsea)
Davide Astori (Calgiari)
Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City)
Giancarlo Gonzalez (Columbus Crew)
Tim Cahill (NY Red Bulls)
Ki Sung-Yueng (Swansea)
Raoul Cedric Loe (Osasuna)
Cristian Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid)
Carlos Bacca (Sevilla)
Leandro Rodriguez (CA River Plate)
Daniel Wass (Evian)
Danny Rose (Tottenham)
Patrick van Aanholt (Chelsea)
Jonathan Biabiany (Parma)
Serge Gnabry (Arsenal)
Ikechi Anya (Watford)
Ogneyi Onazi (Lazio)
Jose Miguel Cubero (Herediano)
Maxime Lestinne (Club Brugge)
Bruma (Galatasaray)
Abel Hernandez (Palermo)
Anthony Stokes (Celtic)
Paolo Guerrero (Corinthians)
Facundo Ferreyra (Shaktar Donetsk)
Christian Atsu (Chelsea)
Sam Byram (Leeds)
Michael Dawson (Tottenham)
Davide Faraoni (Udinese)
Bruno Zuculini (Man City)
Not as many new links this week, with only four names to add to our list but those new names bring up our century as our total for the summer transfer window reaches exactly 100.
Sunderland completed one of their most high profile deals in years this week as Jack Rodwell joined the club in a deal worth up to £10m. Signing the 23-year-old is a big coup for Poyet and Congerton, with the £10m transfer fee likely to look like a bargain if we can keep the midfielder fit. Although Rodwell has dismissed the notion he is injury prone by insisting that he has been fully fit for some time;
Last season, over the course of the whole season, I was injured for about three weeks. I was fit and available for 47 of the 57 games.
That might surprise quite a lot of people because they probably didn't see my name on the team sheet and just assumed I must be injured.
I've been fit for a year-and-a-half now. I'm just ready to go.
Rodwell has already made his Sunderland debut as he played in pre-season friendly games at Heritage Park against Real Betis and Udinese, where he looked good, if not a little rusty.
Another player who came into the team for those two games was Argentine defender Santiago Vergini who re-joined the club on a season-long long from either Atletico Fenix or Estudiantes, with those co-ownership complications thought to be the reason the club signed him on loan rather than on a permanent deal. Vergini settled straight back into the side as he looked as assured at right back as he did at the end of the season, even scoring the opener against Udinese and then winning the penalty that made it 2-0.
Speaking after that 2-0 win, Poyet said he is confident of more new arrivals before the season kicks off on Saturday and is hopeful of news very soon;
I don't want to say how many, because people will throw it back at me, but I am expecting more signings before the season starts.
There's no more news just yet, though. We are still working on it. We are still a week away, and the days go past quite quickly.
I hope we can have some more news very soon.
Despite Vergini's arrival, Sunderland still need another full back, with Patrick van Aanholt and Billy Jones the only genuine, senior full backs at the club. With another full back on the agenda, the club were linked with a move for Leeds United's highly rated right back Sam Byram this week.
Ronald Koeman has confirmed that Southampton have had a bid for the defender rejected by Leeds but there are multiple reports that the 20-year-old is holding out for a move to the Stadium of Light. There had been reports that the defender had handed in a transfer request but that is not true, although his agent has said that if a suitable chance to the Premier League comes up he would like to consider it.
Bryam has been one of the more impressive performers in the Championship since he broke into the Leeds first team in 2012 and scooped a clean sweep of player's awards for Leeds at the end of the 2012/13 season. He didn't reach the same heights consistently last season as his season was disrupted by a hip injury but he is still a highly talented right back that will not come cheap and it's the potential price tag that is likely to be the biggest obstacle should Sunderland follow up their interest with an offer, with some reports suggesting that Leeds want around £10m for the player.
Another young right back with Championship experience linked to the club was Davide Faraoni of Udinese who spent a year with Watford before returning to the Italian club at the end of last season. Faraoni is expected to leave Udinese this summer and wasn't even in the squad that travelled to England to play Sunderland over the weekend. With his future expected to be away from the Stadio Friuli, his agent claimed that Sunderland were one of a number of English clubs taking an interest in the 22-year-old but he actually looks increasingly likely to join Torino.
It has taken longer in this transfer window than it usually does but Sunderland have finally been linked with Michael Dawson. The Tottenham defender has been heavily linked with a move to Hull City in recent weeks but the Daily Express claimed we were also interest in the player. The club's unsuccessful pursuit of Ashley Williams suggests the club is after an experienced central defender and Dawson would seem a good fit who would be a popular signing with the fans but Mauricio Pochettino has assured the 30-year-old that he will remain captain at Spurs for as long as he is at the club.
Our final and seemingly most concrete new link of the week is with young Manchester City midfielder Bruno Zuculini. The 21-year-old's protracted move to the Premier League champions was only confirmed this week but according to reports in Spain he will join Sunderland after today's Community Shield.
The reports say Zuculini will only join Sunderland on-loan until January before going back to City with Premier League experience once Frank Lampard has joined up with New York City FC and Yaya Toure joins up with the Ivory Coast national team for the African Cup of Nations. The move, which has been confirmed by the player's father, could well be a better deal for his parent club than it will be for Sunderland but he should provide us with some much needed strength in depth and after his impressive pre-season form with Man City, he could be an astute, if only short-term, signing.
There may be movement soon on a player Sunderland have been linked with for the last few weeks in Atletico Madrid's Jose Gimenez. Atletico signed Jesus Gamez from Malaga this week which pushes the Uruguayan World Cup star further down the pecking order and the La Liga side may be prepared to loan out the player on a two-year deal, similar to the arrangement they have with Liverpool over Javier Manquillo. So that could be one to keep an eye on in the coming weeks.
In out-going and perhaps surprising news, El-Hadji Ba left the club to join Ligue 1 side Bastia on a season-long loan deal. Ba had been one of Sunderland's better performers in pre-season and it had been thought that he would be in and around Sunderland's first team squad this season but that was not to be. Initially a loan deal, the move is a with a view to a permanent deal and judging by Ba's goodbye on Twitter, we may not see him in the red and white stripes again;
I want just say thanks to Di Canio Gus Poyet theirs staff and players for all they have taught me,Fans was very nice I wish you the best...
— El hadji Ba #22 (@Elhadjbaaby) August 7, 2014
Alfred N'Diaye will have to wait for his future to be resolved, with his move to Real Betis now in jeopardy due to the player struggling to agree personal terms with the Spanish second division side. News that may be a disappointment to Poyet who was hoping, "god willing", that the player's move to Betis would have been completed by now.
Finally, Danny Graham could still be on his way to Middlesbrough despite returning to the Sunderland first team during yesterday's 2-0 win over Udinese. Boro manager Aitor Karanka has confirmed that he is still interested in the player and another return to the Riverside for Graham could well be a possibility;
One of the players we still need to bring in should be another striker. Could it be Graham? I don't know.
We are speaking about him. He is a player who could be possible for us.
That's your lot for this week as we got through an entire article without mentioning a certain Liverpool striker but stay tuned to Roker Report throughout the summer as we keep you up to date with all the transfer news and rumours. Also, feel free to keep in touch with our dedicated Transfer Centre, which you can do by CLICKING HERE.
