What Kristjaan Speakman said about Sunderland's January transfer strategy as search for additions continues

It has so far been a quiet window on Wearside where the movement has been outgoing: Everton recalled Ellis Simms on New Year's Eve before Jay Matete was last week allowed to join Plymouth Argyle on loan.

Unsurprisingly, head coach Tony Mowbray has said that securing reinforcements both up front and central midfield is the priority this month as a result.

Chairman Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has previously said that there will be funds available for investing in the right deals this month, but has like the rest of the club hierarchy stressed that is likely to be a quieter window than those previous in his tenure.

In an interview with safc.com last week, Speakman said: "We've had a quite steady evolution in terms of the playing squad and I think everyone can see that, in terms of the players that have left and the players that have come in and the demographic, the make up of that group.

"We're really proud that we've got a really good young group with some top, experienced professionals as well. What we've got to try and do now is try and improve that team from window to window. I think that becomes more difficult with every window because I think everyone sees the qualities in our team and not only that, they see the potential in our players to get better. Therefore finding talent which is going to come in front of that is going to be a hard piece of work for us to do. We're certainly [focusing on] quality over quantity, and we're looking at the January and the summer window together to make sure that we can identify the targets that are the right deals for the club and that can come in and improve the team.

"There's obviously a necessity to try and improve on our week-to-week performances, we're in a really good spot in the league and we don't want to put a ceiling on what we can achieve this season, but I think we're also realistic about where we think we can improve and at what stage."