WHILE the likes of Jobe Bellingham and Bradley Dack have made an immediate impact at Sunderland, other summer signings will need patience and shouldn't be judged until they've settled in the Championship, says Kristjaan Speakman.

Sunderland wrapped up the transfer window with four new signings on deadline day last week, taking their tally to 11 for the summer.

Bellingham joined from Birmingham and Dack from Blackburn but seven of the other nine signings were overseas arrivals and are relatively young and inexperienced.

Ukrainian striker Nazariy Rusyn is 24 but all of Sunderland's other signings from Europe are aged between 17 and 21. Club bosses have high hopes for all of the new recruits but are willing to play the long game and have stressed the need for patience.

"Supporters want to see that impact on the pitch and naturally so do we, but you can't just always get impact straight away on the pitch," said Speakman.

"Jenson (Seelt) for example has struggled with his injury, players are acclimatising and adapting.

"But when you look at players like Dacky and Jobe they've seamlessly integrated into he group and are performing and scoring, which is really pleasing.

"We're really optimistic about all the players we've brought in and believe that they'll come in and contribute, but it has to be the right moment for them. We're signing some of the players from different leagues and different environments and cultures so we have to be fair and judge them at the right moment. Hopefully they'll come in and have a big impact."

After a fast start to the window in which Sunderland made four early signings, the bulk of the rest of the business - ins and outs - wasn't done until the final stages of the summer in what turned out to be a dramatic late dash to the deadline.

Now the dust has settled, there's real satisfaction with the depth and balance in Mowbray's squad.

"We're certainly happy the window is closed, it's a process which takes over everything that goes on around the football club," Speakman told the club website.

"It's such an important thing to make sure we get the right players through the door and the right balance in the squad. Overall we're really happy with where the squad is at at the close of the window.

"We had a really eventful start and tried to be as proactive as we could and that gave us a good start to a window where there was a lot of change. But as ever it will always come down to the last few days and how negotiations play out and how we want to make certain decisions.

"We really feel there's a lot of depth in the squad and potential in the group and days like Saturday (the win over Southampton) show that potential and depth."

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Sunderland still have several injured players to come back into the team and matchday squad in the coming weeks and months, with the likes of Patrick Roberts, Aji Alese, Hemir, Eliezer Mayenda and Corry Evans having all missed the Southampton win - while the four deadline day signings were also unavailable.

Speakman said: "It's always disappointing when key players are missing but key players like being pushed and to have a buoyant group with players who feel like they can get in the team makes the standards a bit higher and gives Tony all the options he requires to make the right decisions.

"On Saturday, what I was most proud of was how bold we were and I think that's what supporters want to see from our team."