SUNDERLAND manager Mick McCarthy last night insisted that Kevin Phillips' availability will signal a stampede for "the bargain buy of the summer''.

Phillips announced this week that he is quitting Wearside after six goal-laden years.

Confirmation that the £5m-rated striker is on the move will prompt enquiries from Middlesbrough, Leeds - where former Sunderland boss Peter Reid is in charge - Tottenham and Blackburn. Rangers and Celtic are also on alert.

One-time shelf-stacker Phillips, rejected by Southampton as a youngster, was valued at £15m only two years ago.

But with relegated Sunderland over £26m in the red and preparing for the hardship of life in Division One, an offer of £4m could be enough to land the former Watford player, who won Europe's Golden Boot for 30 top-flight goals in season 1999-2000.

McCarthy, who took charge two months ago after the sacking of Howard Wilkinson, said: "I will be sad to see Kevin go.

"I would have loved to have seen him stay here under different circumstances.

"But Kevin will find that spark again, and there will be a lot of clubs interested in him.

"He's a goalscorer and someone will be looking at him and thinking they will get a bargain by signing him.

"There's no reason why he can't hit the 30-goal-a-season mark again. He's been here for a long time and maybe should have moved on when he won the Golden Boot three years back.

"I've nothing but praise for the way he's been since I arrived."

Sunderland are losing their talisman and with other key players like goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen and midfielder Gavin McCann destined to join the exodus, McCarthy is eager to recruit a charismatic figure to generate interest among the dwindling band of disillusioned fans.

The decision of Tottenham boss Glenn Hoddle to release evergreen striker Teddy Sheringham was greeted with widespread dismay, and McCarthy may be tempted to make an approach for the 37-year-old former England star.

"I'd like to bring somebody in to spark the place,'' admitted McCarthy. "I'll have to take advantage of the loan system and look at short-term deals.

"When you're on a short-term agreement it brings the best out of players because they are working on nervous energy.

"I'm not going to have a lot of cash. I might have to go to the chairman at some point over the summer and ask him to back me with one cash signing. I hope he would do that. It won't be a totally new 11 for the first game next season, but I think there'll be five or six new faces.''

McCarthy is convinced the time has come for players to pay the price for relegation by taking a drop in wages.

He said: "In the past, you brought someone in from another club on big money and you couldn't expect to tell them to take a 50 per cent pay cut if you were to go down.

"But I think that will change, and it will become the norm where there has to be some kind of forfeit for relegation.

"I think there now has to be a Premiership wage and a Division One wage."

Having lost his first nine games as the Black Cats' boss, the worst start ever by a manager at the club, straight-talking Yorkshireman McCarthy knows that any honeymoon period is over.

"The pressure will be on me from day one next season, but I'm used to pressure - I've had it all my career,'' he said.

"It'll be very competitive in Division One. West Ham will be a real power if they hang on to their players. Us and them are there to be shot at. It's been a bit like that for Wolves. They have been the big club everybody has aimed at.''

* Sunderland goalkeeper Mart Poom is in the Estonia squad for their Euro 2004 qualifiers against Andorra and Croatia on June 7 and 11.

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