UNDER-PRESSURE Sunderland manager Peter Reid has stepped up his bid to sign a goal-scoring striker in a bid to halt the slide down the Premiership table.
Having washed his hands of £3.6m French international Lilian Laslandes, who has been farmed out to Bundesliga side Cologne on loan until the end of the season, Reid is combing the Continent for a new partner for his England ace, Kevin Phillips.
Reid is believed to have checked personally last week on Athletic Bilbao's 30-year-old Spanish international centre-forward Ismael Urzaiz, who has scored ten goals in 22 appearances this season.
Reid was spotted at the Spanish Copa Del Rey semi-final second leg, which saw Bilbao lose 3-0 to Real Madrid, going out 4-2 on aggregate, in the Bernabeu Stadium last Thursday night.
Urzaiz, who is 6ft 2in, was linked last season with Newcastle United.
Reid has been alerted to his form as he prepares to break the club transfer record of £4.5m to solve his club's scoring problems.
Sunderland have slipped to 15th place in the Premiership table and while the alarm bells are sounding loud, Reid refuses to talk about the possibility of the season deteriorating into a relegation battle.
After the 4-1 mauling at Old Trafford, Sunderland's fourth defeat in six matches, Reid shrugged off questions about a fight for survival.
He said: "I am not talking about being near the bottom of the table.
"I am talking about trying to put results together and get the points to get us up there, and that's what I will be looking to do. I am more concerned about winning games."
But Reid knows his side's main weakness at the moment is the lack of a goal-scoring partner for Phillips, who has scored ten of Sunderland's 20 Premiership goals this season.
The boss is currently trawling through a list of possible targets, which also includes 22-year-old Montpelier striker Toifilou Maoulida
Veteran Republic of Ireland striker Niall Quinn has been having further problems with a long-standing back injury, only making the substitutes' bench at Old Trafford, and it is clear that his fruitful partnership with Phillips is coming to the end of its days.
Meanwhile, Sunderland's £4.5m signing from Glasgow Rangers, Claudio Reyna, believes that the team is too good to get sucked into an end-of-the season fight for survival.
The United States skipper left the relative comfort of Ibrox to test himself in the Premiership, and he admitted after the defeat at Old Trafford that he has moved into a totally different environment.
He admitted: "The games are much harder every week in the Premiery league, but I came here knowing it would be like that.
"At Rangers it is a bit like Manchester United, where the fans expect to win every game every week, but we have different goals at Sunderland.
"Now I am in a situation where I have to help this club claw its way back up the table.
"We have the players to do it, but when you are under a bit of pressure it is important that both the players and the supporters remain calm.
"We are not doing that at the moment. If someone makes a bad pass then everyone gets edgy and that makes the whole situation much worse.
"That's when the panic creeps in."
Reyna added: "We are not a team that scores two or three goals a game and if we concede two then we haven't got the confidence to get back into the match.
"We have to be tighter defensively, but we can't really expect to take points from a place like Old Trafford.
"But having said that I am confident that we won't be fighting a relegation battle at the end of the season."
l First Division promotion challengers Birmingham City are reported to have shown an interest in Sunderland's versatile former England B international Darren Williams.
Williams played in midfield at Old Trafford, and a bid of £1.5m could be forthcoming from Blues boss Steve Bruce.
Read more about Sunderland AFC here.
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