PETER Lovenkrands is hoping to join a select band of players who have swapped Newcastle for Sunderland.

The Danish winger will officially become a free agent next week when his shortterm deal with the Magpies expires.

Having moved to St James’ Park in January, Lovenkrands was one of the few success stories on Tyneside in the second half of last season, scoring three goals in 12 appearances as Newcastle tumbled out of the top-flight.

The 29-year-old is desperate to remain in the Premier League, and with Sunderland having joined a long list of clubs to have expressed a tentative interest in his services in recent weeks, has claimed he would not be afraid to switch sides in the Tyne-Wear divide.

“Sunderland is certainly an interesting club,” said Lovenkrands. “The city is near Newcastle where we have settled fine and it would be attractive to stay in northern England.

“I would not mind to continue to play in England and particularly in the Premier League.”

Sunderland are short of a striker at the moment having failed to take up an opportunity to sign Djibril Cisse at the end of last season.

The Frenchman scored ten goals for the Black Cats, but his performances tailed off considerably in the second half of the campaign and Sunderland officials decided not to offer him a permanent deal on Wearside.

At the time, Cisse spoke confidently of signing for one of the club’s Premier League rivals but, yesterday, the former Liverpool striker signed a four-year-deal with Greek side Panathinaikos to complete a £7m move from Marseille.

Meanwhile, Sunderland could face competition from Tottenham for Wigan midfielder Lee Cattermole.

Ironically, if Cattermole was to move to Tottenham, Bruce’s chance of landing another of his targets – Spurs’ Tom Huddlestone – would improve markedly.