Where should I strengthen?

Just finished 14th in my first Sunderland season (07/08) and I have £30 million to spend, where should I improve my squad?

GK Gordon

RB Halford

CB Anderson

CB McClean

LB Harte

RW Edwards

CM Whitehead

CM Etuhu

LW Richardson

ST Jones

ST Connolly

Basically everywhere apart from GK most of the players are barely prem standard. Main priority should be defence though.

I'd suggest that your defence needs a complete overhaul, at RB you could look at Hoyte from Arsenal or Murty from Reading. What happened to Jonny Evans at CB? He'd be quality, otherwise look at Jay DeMerit, Dickson Choto or Zvenyika Makonese to partner him. At left back, Silvestre always seems to go to Sunderland in my games otherwise look at Mattock.

Maybe look at new wingers, Abdou Razack Traore and Lubos Kalouda are both cheap and excellent. A more attack minded CM maybe an option also, Stefan Defour if he hasn't been snapped up already or Maciej Iwanski.

I'd also look at a better striker than Connolly, Sebastian Grax or Roman Pavyulchenko would be worth a look at.

Don't forget to look at the teams who just got relegated, you'd probs be able to a handful of good players from them!

yeh, complete overhaul needed, tbh you did quite well to finish 14th in your first season

if i were you i'd check the transfer list, probably be able to get some real bargains from there

Everywhere

Defence : Bellaid, Delpierre, Mensah, Mathieu (Toulouse) ...

Midfield : Gouffran, Biglia, Boussoufa, Sankhare (pure quality)

Strikers : Grax, look at the russian -21 team good strikers in there imho, Gignac, Briand, Aquino

What happened to Jonny Evans at CB? He'd be quality

Probably gone back to Man Utd I'm guessing. He was only on loan iirc.

SAFCrhys_keanoFTM

I concur with what everybodys saying tbh. You need a complete overhaul except for you GK. Keep Jones as well. He'd be good on rotation. Whitehead can stay on as well I guess. He's pretty good. The good thing is that you have a LOT of money with which to strengthen.

LB - Try Matt Hill from Preston. Cheap and excellent defensively.

RB - Justin Hoyte from Arsenal. He's good, very quick and will be relatively cheap. If he's not interested in signing for you, try to get him on loan with a future fee involved.

CB - Havard Nordtveit on loan. Jonny Magallon from Chivas, Arturo Vidal, Khalid Boulahrouz are a few names. Maybe get Jonny Evans back on loan again?

DM - Mathieu Flamini is very good if you can land him. Else, try Muamba, Alou Diarra or Younousse Sankhare.

Improve your offence too. I'd suggest getting atleast 1 quality ST into your squad and maybe 1 loan. Try the name suggested above. Add James Vaughan, Victor Anichebe (loan), Javier Saviola (if he's interested), Ikechukwu Uche (10M release), Sinama-Pongolle (7M release - good price) to that list. There are many others. You could try to get in players like Steve Sidwell for the centre. If Julio Baptista is listed and he's interested in joining you, he'll be a quality addition.

Oh, and try to bring in Luis Jimenez immediately (if he's not already been snapped up that is). And also, Andrey Arshavin. These two will provide you with all the offence you need from the midfield.

gk- gordon is good enough

dr- hoyte is a must

dl- matt hill is surprisingly brilliant

dc- see if you can get nordveit

dc- mensah is a brilliant signing

mr- lubos kalouda is the man

ml- abdou-razack traore. you wont get better for that price.

mc- sankhare will do a good job

mc- jimenez or arshavin. jimenez is better and cheaper. i signed him for 1.8mill

fc- vagner love is a machine

fc- gignac is brill

ones for the future- saivet, sakho, aquino, wijnaldum, cahais, oded gavish

Don't overlook Andy Reid, even though he may be lethargic, he's certainly technical enough to play at Premier League standards.

Places to improve:

RB

CB

LB

CM

ST