New Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone has hailed the work of manager Paolo Di Canio this summer.

The former Arsenal keeper joined the Black Cats for £2m earlier this month and is one of several new faces at the Stadium of Light.

With the likes of Emanuele Giaccherini and Gino Peruzzi also close to completing moves to the North East, Mannone is pleased with the direction that Di Canio is taking the club in.

"It's a big positive. It looks like a new era, the beginning of a new project," Mannone told reporters. "I'm really happy to be involved in this project now.

"There are quite a few new players in and it's good that we've all come in at once at the start of something.

"The lads who were already here are helping us quite a lot. I think we've already made great progress in terms of getting to know each other and starting to form a team. In another month, we will be the team that the boss wants us to be."

Mannone, Modibo Diakite, Valentin Roberge, Cabral, David Moberg Karlsson, El-Hadji Ba and Jozy Altidore have already joined Sunderland this summer.