Sunderland look to add in midfield
Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at 6:32 PM | by Matt Carter 
You have to cast your minds all the way back to Loic Cana to remember the last time Sunderland had a genuine quality holding midfield enforcer and that takes the strongest of recall powers for us to recollect.
However with ESPN reporting that Alfred N'Diaye could be joining the Black Cats from Turkish club Bursaspor it could be that their wait will finally be a new quality holding player hitting Wearside.
It's easy to see why Martin O'Neil is looking at bringing in a protector given that his defensive line is hardly one to inspire confidence. Carlos Cuellar has been their best defender by far this season but even he has made his fair share of errors, Wes Brown and Jon O'Shea seem unable to put together consecutive appearances between them, Matt Kilgallon doesn't quite look a Premier League defender just yet and we don't even need to go into the calamities of Titus Bramble. The Black Cats have not shipped a hat-full of goals but Belgium shot stopper Simon Mignolet's supreme form has at times been a real masking for their struggling defensive line.
N'Diaye has been impressive thus far in the Turkish league and at 22 he is of an age where he should only get better, whilst on viewing he looks a player who has all the physical attributes to succeed in England. Sunderland despite having improved slightly of late are still in a significant battle to survive and O'Neill looks to be determined to add some much needed protection to what is at times a flakey back-four and it would appear that N'Diaye is the man that he has identified to do that.
