Sunderland have made a bright start to their long-awaited return to the Premier League...

Former Sunderland striker David Connolly has admitted that he wouldn’t be surprised to see the club spend more money in the January transfer window following their stellar start to the season.

The Black Cats brought in 14 fresh faces and forked out in excess of £150 million over the course of the summer, and have been rewarded for their ambitious recruitment drive with 23 points from their opening 15 matches.

Naturally, attentions are beginning to shift towards the new year, with the market set to reopen, and owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus having already dropped a significant hint that he could be willing to invest even further in his squad if it helps them to guarantee a lofty finish.

During a recent appearance on Sky Sports, the Sunderland chief said: “I think the stats showed to us that unless you do something extraordinary you're likely going to go back to the Championship. For us, we didn't really set ourselves a budget in terms of the money we want to spend - we had an ambition to try and bring in the players we want and fortunately a lot of the deals we wanted to do we were able to conclude them, and as a result of that the spend in the end was big, but most importantly we got the players that we wanted.

“I would say definitely a little bit [that the great start could affect Sunderland’s approach in January] because obviously if we're in the bottom three by Christmas or we're in the top six by Christmas that changes the ambition a little bit. We're currently preparing for all scenarios but we've been doing that since the summer, so hopefully we'll be going into the January window with a top ten finish in mind and we will prepare and execute the transfer window to give us the best chance.”

What did David Connolly say about Sunderland’s potential January transfer plans?

And speaking exclusively to The Echo, courtesy of iGamingNuts, Connolly admitted that he believes another round of spending could very much be in the offing. He said: “I mean, you've got to say - strategy-wise and identifying who they've identified, who to go and get - they've done it very, very well. And you would say that they would obviously have targets lined up.

“I know the January window can be a difficult one, but, you know, I remember my time there, I think we signed Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson in January and that helped us get over the line. Generally, you can do some really good business in January if you get it right. And it wouldn't surprise me if they did have money allocated, because I know they did very well in the summer and spent, but where they are now, the points they've got on the board, if they needed one or two, then absolutely I think the money would be there.

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“You look at, say, the bottom of the table and they have a pretty big distance to go, right? So, you wouldn't say - maybe as in other seasons - there's an urgency to desperately go and sign some players, but if they feel the right players came up, then it wouldn't surprise me to go and do it. But I think they're in that good position where they're pretty strong and the points they've got on the board mean that if they don't get anyone in, I think the good news is - unlike maybe in other times, where you might be under pressure to stay up - you'd like to think that with the start they’ve had and the tough run of games, they've still got 23 points on the board... It might be a little bit less pressure, I mean, in this window than maybe previous seasons.”

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