Sunderland AFC: Regis Le Bris makes transfer admission ahead of January window | OneFootball

Le Bris doesn't have a set stance on the January window yet, with the Frenchman still experimenting in different areas.

Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris has admitted that he doesn't know how many players he needs to sign during the January transfer window at this point.

He explained to the Sunderland Echo that his experimentation of trying players in different positions has made it difficult for him to know exactly what he needs when the window opens again in 2025.

The Black Cats have a fairly decent amount of depth in several areas, even though they aren't the wealthiest team in the division.

Investing in young players and making some very shrewd additions on the cheap, the Wearside outfit have been smart in the transfer market, and this could end up leading them to the Premier League.

Currently sitting in second place, their depth has arguably played a part in their success, and this depth has been required with a number of players spending time out injured this term.

Ahmed Abdullahi, Alan Browne, Niall Huggins, Romain Mundle, Ian Poveda and Jenson Seelt were all on the sidelines for their last game, along with Patrick Roberts, Trai Hume and Jobe Bellingham, with the latter three being suspended.

Even with this, they have been able to pick up points and nearly came close to winning all three at Millwall on Saturday.

Regis Le Bris makes Sunderland transfer admission ahead of January

Le Bris may consider injuries when setting out his target list for January, but at this point, he doesn't know exactly what he wants.

Speaking to the Sunderland Echo about the January window, he said: "At the minute, we are still finding new players in new positions in our team. As I said before, like Aaron as a ten and Eliezer as an 11 on Saturday.

"Salis will be back soon [in December], Ahmed and Ian too. So we will probably have three or four more players [by the time the January window opens].

"So I don't know how much will we need right now, the focus for me and the staff is to enjoy the players that we have here.

"There are a lot of strengths in the squad, even if some have been injured. We could have a lot of players in a lot of positions [if they recover from injury]."

Sunderland may need to look at their full-back area

The one area the Black Cats probably need to look at is their full-back department.

In fairness to the club, they had players who could step up in the absence of Dennis Cirkin and Hume, with Aji Alese and Luke O'Nien starting at full-back.

However, O'Nien and Alese may be required in central defence, with no guarantees that Joe Anderson and Zak Johnson will be able to make the step up as starting centre-backs yet.

The injured Seelt and Huggins are two other players who can operate at full-back, but the latter has a very poor injury record.

One other factor to bear in mind is Leeds United's reported interest in Cirkin, with the Whites potentially preparing to lure him away from the Stadium of Light in January.

With all of this in mind, lining up a full-back signing or two may not be a bad move, and it could potentially allow players like Anderson and Seelt to go out and win more game time on loan.