Sunderland are set for a very busy end to the transfer window

Sunderland are gearing up for a busy end to the summer transfer window that could see the number of finalised moves reach double figures before close of play.

The bulk of those will be in outgoing deals, as the Black Cats look to streamline their squad and secure regular game time for some of their promising young players on the fringes of the squad. There will be a significant couple of incoming additions, however. Sunderland are close to concluding to a move for RB Leipzig defender Lutsharel Geertruida, who is set to join on an initial season-long loan.

Sunderland will have the option to make the deal permanent for a fee of around £18.5 million next summer. A versatile defender who is comfortable in possession and can also operate in defensive midfield, Geertruida's arrival is expected to signal the end of Sunderland's pursuit of Bologna defender Jhon Lucumí. The Serie A club have been determined to hold onto the Colombia international despite his eagerness to make the switch to Wearside, and his strong performance from the bench in a 1-0 win over Como this weekend underlined the lack of progress. Geertruida gives Sunderland the defensive depth they need, and adds another physically and aerially strong defender to Régis Le Bris's options.

Sunderland are also close to sealing a deal for Ajax striker Brian Brobbey, who will join for an initial fee in the region of €20 million. That move will pave the way for Marc Guiu to make an early return to Chelsea from his loan spell. Chelsea had been looking for reinforcements after Liam Delap suffered a significant hamstring injury on Saturday, and settled on Guiu's return as the best solution. There was no recall clause in the agreement, but Sunderland have a strong relationship with Chelsea and believe Brobbey can add something different to their forward options.

Sunderland have been working hard to recruit another winger in recent weeks, following the collapse of their attempts to sign Armand Lauriente. That work has been ongoing in recent days, and included an enquiry for Ajax winger Bertrand Traore. Sunderland fans can therefore surmise that the club would still like to make an addition in this position, though time is clearly against them. Wilson Isidor and Enzo Le Fée have also played well off the left in recent weeks, which gives Sunderland more options if they can't land a third deadline-day addition. The club are thought to now have agreed a £2.5 million deal to sign Traore, and are working to try and beat the deadline to get the transfer done.

The outgoing transfer picture with just over an hour of the window to go

It's understood that Patrick Roberts is likely to join Birmingham City regardless of the winger pursuit. Sunderland could do with additional cover out wide, but the feeling behind the scenes is that they can't realistically stand in the way of such a superb servant to the club given the offer of regular football at a promotion-chasing team. Roberts worked with now Birmingham City boss Chris Davies at Celtic earlier in his career, and a deal is on track to go through before the deadline. Alan Browne is also expected to join Middlesbrough. Sunderland rate Browne’s ability and leadership highly but game time is likely to be limited this season and the move to Championship club suits all parties for the season ahead.

Elsewhere, Nazariy Rusyn is expected to join Arka Gdynia on loan and Niall Huggins is close to linking up with Mike Dodds at Wycombe Wanderers in League One. A number of other departures are also expected. Sunderland are still looking to find new clubs for Ian Poveda, Timothee Pembele, Naz Rusyn, Abdoullah Ba, Jay Matete and Joe Anderson after they were not included in the squad for the new season, while there could then also be departures for players such as Leo Hjelde if the right loan move emerges. Talented youngsters such as Ahmed Abdullahi, Milan Aleksic and Harrison Jones could also yet leave on loan, though a move for the former to join Angers on loan has stalled due to the club's financial restrictions.

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