Sunderland ask stars to wait for pay

'Our discussions have been completely open and transparent and have included the club's bankers, who remain incredibly supportive. It is both normal and necessary to involve the PFA so that they can provide independent advice and support to the players during this process.

'The PFA are also currently in talks with, or providing help and support to, more than 40 clubs, so Sunderland are no different from the majority of clubs in that respect.

'The football market is quite depressed and we are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But we are resolute to deal with it.

'There are a number of pieces to the jigsaw in restructuring our finances and this is just one of them. They include making cost-cuts across the business, which sadly included 70 staff redundancies in the last two months, and the players are also a big part of the club and therefore part of the jigsaw.'

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor added: 'It is not a question of contracts being cancelled. We were very impressed by the attitude of the players at the club. They are being realistic and practical about the situation.'

As well as McCann and Sorensen, Sunderland expect Bernt Haas' £500,000 move to West Bromwich to be revived this week, while Blackburn have travelled to see Claudio Reyna perform for the United States in the Gold Cup and Leeds manager Peter Reid wants to raid his former club for Matt Piper, who he signed from Leicester last year for £3m.

Despite interest from Middlesbrough and Rangers, Kevin Phillips has yet to attract a firm offer and the former England striker missed Saturday's 4-0 win over Durham City with a slight knock.

John Oster, Jody Craddock, Michael Proctor and Kevin Kilbane all scored in the club's first official win under Mick McCarthy.