Sunderland have been busy so far as they look to build upon their promotion from League One under Alex Neil. 

The Black Cats have moved to bring in Daniel Ballard from Arsenal, fending off competition from Millwall and Burnley for the highly-rated Northern Ireland international.

In addition, they added Jack Clarke and Leon Dajuku to the squad on permanent deals after their loan spells last season, whilst tying down several first-team players to long-term contracts.

It's an impressive start to the summer for the Wearsiders who have languished in the third tier for several seasons now but will be approaching the new season with excitement.

One of those factors is the club being able to attract a number of promising players including the likes of Ballard, Clarke and Dajuku.

Another name linked to the club is Reda Khadra who enjoyed a productive loan spell with Blackburn last season from Brighton.

A report from Alan Nixon has suggested Alex Neil's side are competing with Sheffield United for the signature of Khadra who caught the eye in his 27 appearances for Rovers last season.

Khadra scored four and assisted three and will seemingly benefit from more game time, with Brighton open to allowing the 21-year -old to leave permanently, should the right offer come along.

Alex Neil has recently admitted however there no signings are currently imminent, with the former Preston manager running the rule over his side over their warm-weather training camp.

That hasn't stopped Neil from admitting that he needs more quality in his side, as he recently told the Sunderland Echo :"We know we need to add more, that’s obvious.

“The difficulty you’ve got is to get the right deals, at the right price, within the structure we’ve got, sometimes you need to wait a little bit."

It's a prudent way of thinking for Sunderland and Neil, something that has been absent in the past with previous owners.

Finally, an interesting detail came to light with Jack Clarke's permanent move to Sunderland from Tottenham.

It's been reported that the Black Cats could end up paying up to £10m for the former Leeds youngster according to reported Alasdair Gold.

It's understood that the initial fee is a low one, with future add-ons included in the detail to bring Clarke to the club in what seems a shrewd move by the club.