Sunderland captain John O’Shea wants his side to replicate the success they had during the January transfer window, as they bid to build on a successful end to the campaign.

The Black Cats looked to be fighting an uphill battle to survive in the Premier League at the turn of the year, but they only lost two of their final 14 league matches, to secure survival before the final day of the campaign.

O’Shea believes the club’s resurgence was largely down to the shrewd transfer dealings of boss Sam Allardyce during January, with Lamine Kone, Jan Kirchhoff and Wahbi Khazri all playing a key role upon their arrival at the Stadium of Light during the second half of the season.

Republic of Ireland international O’Shea is now hoping that the North East club can bring in similar quality signings during the summer, as they bid to avoid another season fighting against relegation.

O’Shea said: “We added to the quality of the squad in January and hopefully the manager will get the chance to do that again.

That will increase the competition and I’ve said throughout my whole career, that the quality only gets better with more competition.”

The 35-year-old believes it will be important for the club to get their transfer dealings done as quickly as possible during the summer, to give them the best opportunity of making a strong start to the new campaign, that is due to kick off on August 13.

He added: “I’ll be hoping – and I’m sure the manager will be – that he can make an impact early on and get things done quickly.”