'Dead wood must go' says Bruce
STEVE Bruce says new Premier League rules restricting the size of first-team squads to only 25 next season makes it imperative for him to shed Sunderland's dead wood, writes GRAEME ANDERSON.
The club have a raft of players who are surplus to requirements at the Stadium of Light as things stand, but the new rules limiting the size of the first-team squad makes it more important than ever that the likes of David Healy move on.
"The big problem for me is the squad is too big," Bruce admitted. "I've got to trim it.
"Somehow I've got to do some trading on that side of things, and I think there will be more going out than coming in over the next few weeks.
"We're all starting to move into gear now. It's normal during a World Cup year for things to be slow but we're all having a look at what we need to do now and it will start to move again.
"I've got tot take a good look at things in pre-season and see what we've got and what I feel we need.
"There are some big decisions that need to be made."
It's not a task the manager relishes but he appreciates the fact that the new rules make it essential the issue is tackled of moving players on who have no future at the club.
"It is the unpleasant side of the job," he winced. "There are five who have to go and it's hard. But if they aren't in the squad week after week, they have nothing to aspire to.
"In the next few weeks I think we'll see a couple moving on. We're just waiting for everyone to finish jostling for position and then the market will move."
Of those who can leave, there have been little in the way of firm offers – Sunderland's Hungarian goalkeeper excepted.
"We've had a couple of enquiries about Marton Fulop but nothing much is happening on that front yet," revealed Bruce. "We just have to wait and see what unfolds.
"It's very quiet at the minute but, then again, if you'd asked me whether Lorik Cana would be out of the club just a couple of days ago I wouldn't have thought that was going to happen.
"Things can move fast and unexpectedly in football so it's very hard to predict exactly what will happen - certainly though, it's a priority of ours to move players on in a way that is best for us, best for the players and best for the clubs that take them."
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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