Steve Bruce to feature new blood at Arminia Bielefeld

Jul 17 2011 by James Hunter, Sunday Sun

STEVE BRUCE is ready to blood more of his summer signings as Sunderland’s tour of Germany kicks-off against Arminia Bielefeld this afternoon.

The Black Cats boss had all nine of his close season additions out on the training ground for the first time yesterday, with new strikers Connor Wickham and Ji Dong-Won last to arrive.

Bruce has been working with seven of his new additions – Craig Gardner, Ahmed Elmohamady, Wes Brown, John O’Shea, Keiren Westwood, Seb Larsson and David Vaughan – all week on Wearside but £8m-man Wickham and £1m South Korea international Dong-Won only linked up with their new teammates on Friday to fly out for the pre-season tour.

Ex-Ipswich youngster Wickham was given extra time off due to his involvement in the European Under 21 Championships with England, while Dong-Won had to wait for his visa to arrive before he could start work at his new club.

Of the new faces, only Gardner and Elmohamady were involved in Sunderland’s midweek win over York City in the first game of Sunderland’s pre-season programme.

And Bruce has confirmed that Brown and Westwood will not be involved against Bielefeld today due to slight injuries.