Kristjaan Speakman on the deadline-day deal that got away and what it means for Sunderland in January

Kristjaan Speakman says Sunderland will be ready and financially able to make a move in the January window if the right deal presents itself.

The Sporting director confirmed that despite the club making four deadline-day additions, they were very close to adding a fifth and could yet revisit that deal in the winter window.

One of the club's primary targets in the final stages of the window was Estudiantes winger Benjamin Rollheiser.

Sunderland invested in a number of players over the course of the summer window, paying fees for nine young players on long-term contracts.

They also recouped some significant funds in the closing stages of the window, with Isaac Lihadji moving to Qatar, Lynden Gooch joining Stoke City and Ross Stewart moving to Southampton in a deal that could eventually be worth in the region of £12 million to the Black Cats.

Deadline day also saw Danny Batth join Norwich City.

The Echo asked Speakman if the club would have funds available to invest in the squad moving into the January window as a result of those outgoing deals.

The Sporting director said the club would only move if the right player was available, but 'definitely' would be in a position to invest in the right circumstances.

"We’ve definitely got scope to keep improving, if that’s the question," Speakman said. "Definitely.

"We wouldn’t want to be fixed on whether that’s the next window or the next [after that], we want to continually improve. It’s about finding the right players at the right moment.

"We had a couple and one player in particular in the last three days who we put significant bids on in South America because we felt that was the right player, but we couldn’t quite get the deal over the line.

"I think the argument is sometimes you just move on to option B but we don’t always see it like that. We might do that, or we might look at option C and see if we can do that one in January. What we have to do is be really diligent in the finances so that we can keep progressing and getting better as a team.

"Around the deadline it’s about holding your nerve, sometimes in not doing things as much as doing things. That’s brought criticism in the past but hopefully people will see on reflection that they’ve been fairly astute decisions."

Sunderland may yet revisit that deal they almost concluded on deadline day in January, depending on the player's circumstances and how the team on Wearside develops over the coming months.

"Yeah, definitely [could revisit it]," Speakman said.

"We’ll always revisit things. We’re interested in certain types and profiles of players. It will also of course depend on how the team is faring at that time and where we feel we need to strengthen sometimes.

"Those priorities can change through the course of the season based on how the team is playing, what injuries you have etc. You have to keep evaluating it."

It was a busy end to the window for Sunderland, after an initial wave of acquisitions in the early stages of the summer.

As well as sanctioning the departures of Stewart, Gooch and Batth, the Black Cats allowed Elliot Embleton to move to Derby County on loan and rejected a bid from Southampton for Patrick Roberts.

Head coach Tony Mowbray revealed after last weekend's win over Southampton that there had also been interest in Pierre Ekwah, amongst others.

Sunderland eventually brought their long striker pursuit to an end on deadline day by signing long-term targets Nazariy Rusyn and Mason Burstow, as well as signing young French talents Adil Aouchiche and Timothée Pembélé.

Speakman said the club were happy with the end result of the window, but admitted that the 'overinflated' striker market had posed some persistent challenges throughout the summer transfer window.

Sunderland are keen to prioritise permanent deals where possible but Speakman said the strength of Burstow's talent convinced them to make a loan move happen.

Currently on international duty, the Chelsea youngster is expected to be in contention to make his debut for the trip to QPR next weekend.

"I don’t really see it as any different to the previous window, to be honest with you," Speakman said.

"The specific nature of the centre-forward market has posed some challenges because I think it’s an over-inflated one, and everyone I’ve spoken to in similar roles has felt that as well. Ultimately we were really pleased.

"We had a really strong start and made several early signings, we had planned really well. But the window is the window, it always requires players to make decisions, other clubs to make decisions - and then we have to make our decisions. All that has to align and there’s nothing like time pressure to do that and that’s why you always see a flurry of activity at the end.

"I’d like to think we were planned and patient in what we wanted to do, and I think that we’ve demonstrated that before.

"We would prefer to purely sign players on a permanent basis, we’ve always articulated that. But we’d been tracking Mason [Burstow] for some time and we didn’t think he would be available. When he was, we made our pitch and fortunately we were able to beat several clubs to his signature.

"Outside of that, the players that we’ve brought in probably aren’t that well known in the UK market so we haven’t suffered from any inflation there. We’re pleased with what we’ve brought in."