Head coach Lee Johnson has started scouring lists of potential January recruits.
Indeed, the Sunderland boss confident that he will be able bring in reinforcements in the transfer window
"Our aim will be to come out of the January transfer window better than we went into it," he said.
"There's always a natural evolution of any squad.
"We've had two windows already, and this will be our third and we just have to keep homing in on the process.
"I think we will be able to recruit - I expect us to be able to recruit. Nobody has told me any different.
"An interesting market for us is the ones that are going out of contract at the end of the season, they have six months left and perhaps are on the fringes of the Championship squads.
"But at the same time, we are always looking for that gem in the lower leagues."
Here, though, we take a look at what some of Sunderland’s rivals are saying ahead of the window:
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1. New Ipswich Town head coach Kieran McKenna to be backed according to CEO Mark Ashton
“From my perspective, I’m hoping it’s not as busy as the summer, that’s for sure. Kieran will be backed, he will be supported. We’re already starting to talk about the shape of the squad now and the shape of the squad moving forwards. We’ll continue those discussions in the next few days, But, yes, I fully anticipate that we will be active in the January window.” Photo: Ashley Allen
2. Oxford United boss Karl Robinson aiming to hold onto loanee during January
“He’s a top player, it’s a necessity Herbie Kane stays here. I can’t speak too much of him. I don’t foresee why he won’t be here. We’ve had a meeting and everything seems positive. They (Barnsley) have got to do what they’ve got to do, but we’re very confident that he’ll be here moving forward from January.” Photo: Alex Burstow
3. Bolton boss Ian Evatt on Bolton’s plans ahead of the January window
“Me and Chris (Markham) have just been sat down for the last three hours going through plans and players and obviously then we’ll produce it to the board and then we’ll make strategic decisions and what’s best for Bolton Wanderers and that’s what we’ll always do.” Photo: Charlotte Tattersall
4. Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley on the January transfer window
“The challenge and the aim is to make January much more productive than it perhaps has been in recent years. ‘The years we were top here, having lived it at Lincoln in our second season in League Two, it’s what could stop us getting promoted? Then you have to recruit towards that. For us this season, it’s what can help us to get the team to continually improve? We want to keep improving this season, but we also want to make sure that come the summer we’re in a much better position than we were last summer. Then if we need, say, six maximum of eight, we can really hone in on what we need because we already have the spine of the team together.” Photo: Jacques Feeney