NORWAY winger Tommy Oren will begin a week's trial at Sunderland tomorrow as Howard Wilkinson steps up his attempts to strengthen their squad after he was left fuming and stunned by Kazuyuki Toda's snub.

After Japan midfielder Toda signed a 12-month loan contract with Tottenham Hotspur yesterday, having spent more than a week training with Sunderland, Wilkinson gave Oren the chance to join his club's relegation battle.

Oren, 22, is understood to be available for £500,000 and could join the Black Cats on loan until the end of the season with a view to a permanent move if he impresses Wilkinson before the transfer window closes next Friday.

With Sunderland saddled with debts of £25m, Oren's club Sogndal might even allow the player to sign for the Wearsiders and give the Premiership strugglers the chance to make deferred payments.

Oren, a left-footed attacker who can play up front as well as in midfield, was rated at £5m as a teenager and in 1999 had a trial with Leeds United.

But his progress was hampered by a broken leg in 2001, and with his contract due to expire later this year he can be bought for a knockdown fee.

Ipswich Town were interested in Oren last season, when he was also linked with French giants Bordeaux, but he is keen to move to the Premiership.

His agent Einar Baardsen said: "Tommy is going to Sunderland for a week and at the moment it's just for some good training.

"However, Sunderland's interest in him has been serious for some time and it's not impossible that something could happen before the transfer deadline."

Sogndal supremo Yngve Hallen added: "We look positively on Tommy getting a trial with Sunderland.

"We've been in touch with them about Tommy before but it didn't work out then for either the club or Tommy. But now we can allow such a stay."

Sunderland are also understood to be interested in former Ipswich midfielder Martijn Reuser, who was released by the Suffolk club on Thursday as part of their cost-cutting measures.

Wilkinson was confident of persuading Toda to sign until May, but was enraged yesterday by the behaviour of the 25-year-old's agents in manoeuvring a deal with Spurs under the Black Cats' nose.

Wilkinson said last night: "Toda trained with us yesterday, but then we received a telephone call this morning saying he wouldn't be training with us and we wouldn't need to pick him up from the hotel.

"We were then told that he was in discussions with another Premier League club.

"When I left for Spain, we were trying to do the deal with them and I think the least the agents could have done is make us aware of the situation which has apparently, allegedly developed overnight.

"I would have considered that professional and respectful. I told him that I wanted to sign him and that we were talking with his Japanese club to bring that about.

"It's a free marketplace out there, but we've put him up in a hotel and we've trained him. But I don't hold him responsible; I'm disappointed I wasn't kept abreast of the situation.

"I don't want to get into a war with agents, but he's had two weeks with us and I can't believe all this happened last night and this morning."

Wilkinson is no nearer to offloading any players, which would reduce Sunderland's wage bill and give him extra financial clout in the transfer market.

As the days tick by until the deadline, it is looking increasingly likely that he will have to mastermind Sunderland's survival mission with the same squad that has left the club two points adrift of safety with 14 Premiership games remaining.

The chronic injury list has limited his options for today's rematch with Blackburn, a fortnight after the sides played out a dreary goalless draw in the League at the Stadium of Light.

Sean Thornton, who has made a striking impression in his first two senior games for Sunderland, has joined the club's ever-growing injury list after suffering a thigh strain.

Such is Wilkinson's selection headache that he has recalled defender Patrick Collins from an England Under-18 trip to Egypt and named centre-back Ben Clark in the squad. Tore Andre Flo, who has an ankle problem, is expected to be absent as Sunderland attempt to reach the FA Cup fifth round for only the second time since they reached the final in 1992.

Wilkinson claimed he would use today's tie to protect his stars from the risk of injury - if only he had a large enough pool of fit players from which to choose his team.

He admitted: "There are 16 on the sheet and they will be virtually the only players I'll have available. Picking the team will not be that difficult. The truth is that the FA Cup is second priority to staying in the Premier League.

"But in the circumstances it's not a question I've seriously had to ask myself because there aren't that many players available to play.

"I won't have to make choices like that all over the place. There's little room for manoeuvre because, one way or the other, most of the people who are fit will be on the sheet.

"Our next League game next Tuesday can't come into my thinking because a win, a good result and a good performance are all important. Performances are important, but I'll be honest; if we play well against Blackburn and get beat, I'll be less disappointed than if we happen to play well on Tuesday and get beat.

"Having said that, we'll have a big contingent of supporters at Ewood Park who will have travelled and paid their money, and we've got a responsibility to them."

Sunderland returned from their five-day trip to Marbella on Thursday and trained on the outskirts of Manchester yesterday in preparation for this afternoon's game.

Wilkinson is hoping the spell in the Spanish sun will reap immediate benefits as they embark on a run of three games in eight days, including Premiership clashes with Southampton and Charlton Athletic. He said: "The weather was very conducive to training, and to training properly.

"The hotel was good and the arrangements were good, and we got some useful work done.

"It was planned in November and we hope it will pay dividends in the future.

"But Blackburn have got some good players at the club and, as they showed at Old Trafford recently, they can compete with anybody when they're at their very best.

"On Wednesday night, however, they were slightly off their best and got a beating from a very in-form Manchester United."

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