Lee Johnson and the club’s recruitment team remain hard at work behind the scenes to bring in new faces after seven players departed the Stadium of Light at the end of the last campaign.

And with the squad now back in pre-season training, transfer activity is set to ramp-up – with the club’s first pre-season game at Spennymoor Town now just around the corner.
Transfer rumours will no doubt continue up to and after that fixture, with Sunderland linked with some interesting names.
So just for fun, we’ve taken a look at how the Black Cats’ squad could look this season if some of the latest transfer rumours are true.
It’s a squad packed with new signings, but would it be enough to achieve promotion from League One?