O'Neill chasing Scott Dann

It's been a pretty slow summer up in the business rooms of the Stadium of Light in Sunderland as they have only managed to get Carlos Cuellar despite it looking back in April that boss Martin O'Neill was limbering up for a busy summer of squad improvement.

Now, in a sudden motion like that silly Bjork song, the quiet is all set to be disrupted as O'Neill is preparing himself to make a bid for Blackburn's Scott Dann.

Sky Sports say that Sunderland's bid has originated from the fact that Wes Brown has suffered a knee injury, so O'Neill desperately needs cover at the heart of the defence.

It is believed that the Black Cats are piecing together a £5 million bid for the 25 year old centre-half, but such a move won't be so simple as they face competition from bitter rivals Newcastle, as well as Norwich and Southampton.

At the turn of the year, Arsenal had been sniffing around the defender, but soon cooled their rumoured interest in the unfortunate player who has suffered successive relegations in the past two years. 

Sunderland have also been down the Dann route before, a year ago under Steve Bruce, but were put off by the £10 million price-tag slapped on him by then-club Birmingham City.

Now O'Neill may be in where Bruce failed in attempting to sign the solid centre-back for half the price, but he will have to rid the competition first; he may also have to stretch to £6 million according to Sky.