Régis Le Bris issues update on Sunderland's search for new additions to backroom staff

Régis Le Bris has again urged patience in Sunderland's search for his assistant head coach but confirmed that the process has restarted in recent weeks.

Sporting director Kristjaan Speakman revealed during the recent international break that the club had been close to making an appointment earlier this summer, only for the deal to fall through late on. The club then made a decision to focus on the start of the Championship campaign and the final weeks of the transfer window.

The search is now back under way but Le Bris has made clear he is happy to be patient.

"The process is ongoing, we are still working on it," he said.

"It is like with signing players, we can find many, many assistants but we need to find the right one to help the staff and the club to grow again. We have many possibilities, because we can improve our staff with different things, experience from the Championship, maybe experience on set pieces, individual development... it's possible to exploit these different areas.

"There are three or four specific qualities [we are looking for] but it's not easy to find the right one. It's not just a specific attention on one subject, it's the human behind. They must understand the club, team, mentality and so on.

"If we want to recruit a striker, if he can be tall, strong, quick, technically very good and can combine with the others, that's all very good, but then we are searching for a player of Real Madrid. It's the same idea here. We are searching for strengths that will be useful but we have other talented coaches in the building so want to build as strong a team as possible."

Le Bris stressed how comfortable he is working with the existing staff as the search for reinforcements continues.

"They are very important," he said.

"The welcome was great, they are working hard and are talented. It's like our team on the pitch, that team behind the scenes is very important. It's not always about finding the most talented player or coach, it's about creating the best team and that team at the moment is very interesting.”

Speaking during the international break, Speakman said: “We will pick that process back up and hopefully find one or maybe more people to come and join the team. There are other first-team members of staff that we are adding to that pool that’s not in the assistant bracket, but that we also think, from a psychological perspective, are going to help us with what we’re doing. It’s a constant process for us to keep trying to improve.”