Tony Mowbray on Sunderland's Champions League scouting

SUNDERLAND’S scouting team have been raising their sights this season – with Tony Mowbray admitting the club are putting plans in place so they can move quickly if any of their young stars are prised away by a Premier League suitor in January.

In Jack Clarke, Dan Neil, Anthony Patterson and Pierre Ekwah, the Black Cats boast four of the brightest young prospects in the whole of the Championship, and all four have been linked with possible moves away from Wearside in the last few months.

Understandably, Mowbray does not want to lose anyone at the turn of the year, but with Clarke having been the subject of a number of unsuccessful bids from Burnley in the summer and Neil known to be attracting strengthening interest from at least two top-flight clubs, there is a good chance Sunderland’s owners will be finding themselves fielding formal offers at the start of next year.

If that happens, and they opt to sell at least one of their prime assets, Mowbray is confident a proportion of the money will be reinvested in the squad, hence the new focus on scouting at a higher level than might previously have been the case.

“Recruitment has to be key,” said the Black Cats boss. “I was talking to Stuart Harvey (head of player recruitment) in my office the other day. I think he’s taking three days off, then he’s away all around the world. He was telling me the countries he’s booked into – he’s going to South America, then back to various parts of Europe, he’s going everywhere.

“Why do you do that? Because if we have a scenario where we sell someone for £20m, then we have to be able to buy a £5m footballer somewhere, not a £600,000 player from Ligue 2 in France. We have to be able to improve, and keep the team really strong.

Tony Mowbray on Sunderland’s Champions League scouting – and possible January sales

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