Sunderland play down talk of moving training base to London

Reports over the weekend suggested that the Black cats were exploring a possibility of setting up their training camp outside of Wearside in a bid to attract better players to the club.

The idea suggested in a national media story was that David Moyes' first-team squad split their time between their current North-East base and a new home down south to make the club more attractive to foreign or even London-based players.

Read what Phil Smith thinks of the suggestion here

However, club insiders have laughed off the claim and say they're unaware of any talk of moving their base 200 miles away.

The Black Cats have made huge strides recently to reconnect with their community, with today's open training session and visits to places like Nissan prime examples of the new philosophy under chief executive Martin Bain.

What do you think of the idea? Would it benefit the team?