Regis Le Bris on transfers, exits, new-look midfield and Burnley

Regis Le Bris has the option of naming an unchanged side, if he wishes, with Jenson Seelt having recovered from the injury that forced him off against West Ham.

Le Bris updated on selections, signings, transfer hopes, possible exits and his new-look midfield in his pre-match press conference at the Academy of Light.

Here's a round-up of what the head coach had to say:

TEAM NEWS

"Jenson is fine.

“Nordi has trained partly this week with us so he is almost ready.

"We will make a decision on Friday as to whether we go with him this weekend or whether we wait for Tuesday.

"Arthur has trained normally this week, so he is ready.

“Nordi is versatile which is a big positive for us, it’s not always the case with new signings.

“Probably his best position in our current squad is either the right back or the right centre back, but also giving us the opportunity to play with three centre backs as well, so this is a positive for us.

“He’s a really well balanced player, good experience, hard worker and a good team mate. He also has the ability to be strong in the air which I think is very important for us.

"We started with quite a small squad but we have begun to change this with Nordi, Omar, Arthur. This will help us with the challenges we have."

TRANSFER HOPES

 "We still want to reinforce the squad if it makes sense for the balance.

"It's still possible in the backline if we find the right player at the right level and with the right mindset.

"We still have one option, maybe. But if it's not the case we'll stay with what we've got.

"There's a lot of speculation which is positive for everyone.

"If it's possible to reinforce the squad with the right profile we'll move forward, but it's not just our question.

"It's a question of the player and the club, so we'll see.

"We need competition to be consistent in this league. We need competition for the squad.

"We'll need competition, because of injuries and suspensions and different styles of play.

"We'll see [what happens next]. One week to go. We'll see at the end."

POSSIBILITY OF EXITS IN FINAL WEEK OF WINDOW

Alan Browne: "We had this conversation with him, about game time and what he needs for the best future for him. It's an open conversation and we will see next week."

Leo Hjelde: "Leo made a really strong decision last year to help the team.

"Even if he wasn't involved in many games during the training sessions, at the end he helped the squad.

"We can decide together whether he can find a solution to have more game time. If it's possible for him it could be useful for his career and for us later. We'll decide next week."

SUNDERLAND'S NEW-LOOK MIDFIELD

"When we planned the squad for recruitment, we thought it was really important in our head that we found players who wanted to run, because the demand of this league is really high.

"But their running needs to be smart. It's not just running everywhere. The balance is really positive with two young powerful runners [Sadiki and Diarra], good footballers as well, and an experienced player [Xhaka] behind them able to manage different tactical problems, help and give advice.

"The balance worked well for this game but I repeat Burnley is a different challenge and then there are 36 others."

LE FEE'S ROLE MOVING FORWARD

"We started with three but we need four, five or six for the season.

"The starting XI for the first fixture will be different maybe this weekend, maybe one month. It's always like that, so we can't predict the exact dynamic or the future.

"We know we will need three, four, five, six players in this position to ensure consistency."