Ellis Short: 'We won't sign players for the sake of it'

Sunderland chairman Ellis Short has said that he will not splash the cash just for the sake of it.

The American billionaire said that he has been in consultation with manager Martin O'Neill throughout the summer in order to identify a number of transfer targets.

The North East outfit have been linked with a £10m swoop for Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Steven Fletcher, but Short has insisted that he will only spend money on the right players.

"Martin is looking at specific players we might want and there will be a lot of work in trying to get those players here," The Mirror quotes Short as saying. "But we don't want to sign players for the sake of signing them - or because it feels inexpensive, for some reason.

"We want to identify players who are good and who will definitely improve us, and try to bring them in.

"Martin and I have been talking all summer about what we're going to do. I think the fans have a pretty good idea of what we need to do and I think everybody has a pretty good idea of what we need to do."

The Black Cats recently completed the signing of Carlos Cuellar.