Sunderland boss Gus Poyet has revealed that he is excited about the arrival of summer signings Ricky Alvarez and Sebastian Coates at the club.

Argentine forward Alvarez arrived at the Stadium of Light on loan from Inter Milan on Deadline Day, while Coates joined from Liverpool after failing to hold down first-team football at Anfield.

"Ricky is an exciting player to watch," Poyet told reporters. "He is technically gifted and can do things with the ball that the rest maybe cannot with that last pass, assist or option.

"Sometimes when a team drops deep it becomes difficult to break them down but he has the ability to break those lines and give us something special."

Weighing in on the potential of defender Coates, the Uruguayan backed his compatriot to recapture his best form at Sunderland.

"When Seb came to England I said that he had all the attributes to be a perfect centre-back, he has the size, the ability, the aggression and the commitment, but sometimes when you go to a club things change very quickly," he added.

"That happened at Liverpool with the manager and then he got an injury so he slowly found himself out of the team, but it is a good challenge and we will help each other – we will help him to come back to the international level he was before and he will help us be competitive."

Both players could make their Sunderland debuts against Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.