SUNDERLAND have made an inquiry about Russia international Pavel Pogrebnyak, but will not be firming up their interest in anyone until their pursuit of John O’Shea, Wes Brown and Darron Gibson is resolved.

Pogrebnyak’s agent, Oleg Artemov, claimed his client was “in negotiations with Sunderland” yesterday, but while there has been limited contact between the Black Cats and the striker’s current employers, Stuttgart, discussions have not progressed beyond an extremely tentative stage.

The same is true of a number of other potential targets, as Sunderland officials are waiting to see whether their £12m bid for O’Shea, Brown and Gibson is successful.

If all three players agree to move to the Stadium of Light, Steve Bruce’s summer transfer budget will largely have been exhausted and attention will shift to cut-price options or loans, such as a potential return for Danny Welbeck, who spent the whole of last season on Wearside.

If, however, one or more of the Manchester United trio refuse to move to Wearside, Bruce may have the funds to launch a move for a player such as Pogrebnyak, who is likely to be available for £3-4m.

The 27-year-old played for Spartak Moscow and Zenit St Petersburg before moving to the Bundesliga to join Stuttgart in 2009.

Bruce is hoping to get a firm answer out of O’Shea, Brown and Gibson before the end of the week, and remains hopeful that all three will be Sunderland players by the time his squad travel to York City for their opening pre-season game next Wednesday.

Having launched a pursuit of Brown over the weekend, Stoke City are also now understood to have discussed a possible move for O’Shea with Manchester United officials.

However, while Brown is keen to move to the Britannia Stadium as it would enable him to remain based in the North-West, sources in Manchester claim O’Shea would prefer to uproot to the North-East.

Gibson’s position is less clear cut, with Newcastle also having expressed an interest in his services.

Sunderland pulled out of the race to sign Charles N’Zogbia last week as they were not prepared to match his £65,000-a-week wage demands, and as expected, the Frenchman is close to completing a move to Aston Villa.

Villa have already lost one winger this summer, with Ashley Young having completed a big-money move to Manchester United, and another could be set to walk through the Villa Park exit door with former Middlesbrough wideman Stewart Downing edging towards a £20m transfer to Liverpool.