JOHN Oster is poised to follow Darren Williams out of the Stadium of Light as part of a player cull that could eventually see four star names leave Sunderland.

With Michael Bridges on the verge of an emotional return to Wearside, Mick McCarthy has accepted that the club's financial situation means he must make cuts to accommodate his new arrival.

Williams was the first player to be sacrificed yesterday, when he made a one-month loan move to Coca-Cola Championship strugglers Cardiff.

But he is unlikely to be the last, with Oster, Ben Clark and Sean Thornton all likely to leave the Black Cats in the next couple of weeks.

West Ham have made a renewed attempt to lure Oster to Upton Park, and Hammers boss Alan Pardew is confident of landing the winger at the second attempt.

The London outfit first approached the Wales international before May's play-off final with Crystal Palace and, had things turned out differently at the Millennium Stadium, Oster would have moved south in the summer.

West Ham's play-off defeat meant they were unable to match Sunderland's contract offer but, after selling Michael Carrick to Spurs for £2.75m, Pardew now finds himself in a far stronger bargaining position.

Oster's situation has also changed as, after starting the first seven games of the season, he found himself dropped to the bench for the recent wins over Gillingham, Nottingham Forest and Preston.

The 25-year-old has become a target for Sunderland's boo boys in the last month and would relish the opportunity of a new start at a club widely expected to be among the front runners for promotion to the Premiership.

McCarthy thought enough of Oster to offer him a lucrative new deal in the summer but, with Darren Carter and Simon Johnson having arrived on loan this month, the Black Cats boss grudgingly accepts that sacrifices will have to be made in an attempt to balance the books.

"I want to keep people here in terms of strikers and I want to keep hold of Simon Johnson," said McCarthy, who could yet have Bridges on board in time to face Leeds United tomorrow night.

"But there might be some movement because I will have to balance wages and keep the monetary people happy."

Williams' move to Cardiff has taken one wage off the books, with the Welsh side hoping to make the transfer permanent next month.

The versatile defender, who is just one game short of 200 senior appearances for the Black Cats, underwent a medical on Wearside yesterday morning before travelling south to join his new team-mates.

He is expected to go straight into the Cardiff side for Saturday's trip to Wolves despite playing the full 120 minutes on Tuesday night as Sunderland's Carling Cup campaign came to an end at Crewe.

That game could also prove to be Clark and Thornton's swansong in a red and white shirt, as the duo have both been deemed surplus to requirements.

Clark is close to securing a move to North-East neighbours Hartlepool, although the two clubs are still discussing whether the move will be on a temporary or a permanent basis.

Thornton's unhappiness was underlined last week when his agent revealed he would be submitting a formal transfer request and, while McCarthy has yet to receive that in writing, the Black Cats will not stand in the way of any club wanting to contact the Irish midfielder.

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