Mel Reay issues update on Sunderland's January transfer plans and explains importance of upcoming cup tie

Mel Reay says work to strengthen the Sunderland squad in the January window is ongoing but does to expect major changes over the course of the window.

Sunderland have made an excellent start to the Championship campaign after a significant overhaul in the summer, and remain firmly in the hunt for the title with ten games to play. Reay would like to add one or two additions if possible, mainly as a result of Keira Ramshaw's enforced retirement due to injury earlier this season.

"We've had quite a few conversations, though there's nothing concrete at this stage," Reay said.

"As I said before Christmas, I would like to bring one in at least to try and give some added competition to the squad. At this moment in time it's out of my hands so we'll just have to see what happens."

Sunderland return from their winter break with an FA Cup fourth round tie against Southampton at Eppleton on Sunday (1pm KO), with a prize of £54,000 on offer to the winner.

"It's huge, especially with the rewards now financially on offer," Reay said of the FA Cup.

"It's important to try and get as far as we can in the competition.

"I think it's added to the importance of it. Especially with some of the teams left in the competition, they've been in the competition from the early stages and it can sustain those smaller clubs for many years to come. That's massive for the game. For us, we just want to try and get as far as we can.

"It's certainly a tough tie against a Southampton team who we've already played this season. We had a great result at St Mary's but we're under no illusions that it's going to be a difficult draw. I think it'll be close, they've got some really good players and it was a tough fixture when we went down there. But I think we've proven now to everyone that we can hold we're own, we're a really organised team who can give anyone a game on our day. It was a competitive game, they had chances and so did we, we take ours and got the three points."