Tony Mowbray makes Sunderland quarter admission following late summer transfer activity | OneFootball

Tony Mowbray has admitted that it may take a little bit of time for Sunderland’s quarter of new signings to get up to speed, whilst in conversation with Chronicle Live.

Abdoullah Ba, Edouard Michut and Amad Diallo all arrived at The Stadium of Light on Deadline Day, whilst Jewison Benette signed a few days before.

The Black Cats have certainly bolstered competition levels and the standards at The Stadium of Light this summer, with the quarter of new arrivals bringing even higher levels of excitement to Wearside.

Speaking to the Chronicle Live about the new additions, Sunderland boss Mowbray said: “They will need time to settle.

“We need to work on the communication side a bit with one or two in terms of their English. But we shouldn’t see it as a negative at all if it takes them a little bit of time.

“The positive for us is that the team are functioning pretty well out on the grass at the moment, so we can give them that. They will understand where they are at, there’ll be a natural period for them to grow into the group. We have talked about putting some bounce games on to give them that game time, get them going, get them in that red-and-white shirt and feel part of the set-up.

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“They have been very exciting watching them on the grass, they are fast and lively, athletic. They can dribble and run and shoot. I don’t want to throw them straight in against Millwall at home for example and it’s the land of the giants all of a sudden, we have to ease them in I think. If we pick up some substantial injuries and we have to put one of them in I will, because they are very talented.”

As Mowbray quite rightly points out, Sunderland are playing well even without the four players in contention, which is a major positive for Mowbray and Co.

Ultimately, all four players have arrived with the ambition of playing regular football, something that will drive competition levels, and therefore the standard a lot higher.

Sunderland’s Deadline Day business stands out as perhaps the best in the division, and whilst the immediate ambition will be to avoid the Championship drop, they will be growing more ambitious.

Easing the aforementioned quartet is the sensible approach for Mowbray and Co. although he would be eager to get them playing minutes straightaway, given the potential at hand.