Sunderland manager David Moyes was pleased to welcome Didier Ndong and Jason Denayer to the club on deadline day.
Moyes completed his seventh and eighth signings of the summer on Wednesday, starting with Ndong who joined the Black Cats from Lorient for a fee of 16m euros.
“We had been pushing to bring in Ndong for quite a while, but we kept getting the message back that he wouldn’t be leaving,” Moyes told the Evening Chronicle.
“It was only two or three days ago that it opened up and there was a chance that we might be able to sign him.
“We like the look of him, he has good energy, he is young, he will improve with time.
“I think he has a personality to his play.
“I’m not saying he is another N’Golo Kante, but there is a bit of that in his makeup.”
Ndong was later joined by Manchester City defender Jason Denayer, who has penned a season-long loan deal.
“We brought in Jason, who can play centre-half, he can play full-back - they speak incredibly highly of him at Celtic, where he spent time on loan and was named Scottish Young Player of the Year,” Moyes continued.
“He went and played at Galatasaray last year, and he only came on the market late on Wednesday night.
“He was interesting to us, because I don’t think having Lamine Kone, Papy Djilobodji, and John O’Shea was enough to get us through the season. With the possibility of injuries and suspensions, you really need four centre-backs.
“I also wanted him because he gives me the flexibility to play three at the back alongside Kone and Djilobodji, which I will do at times.”
He added: “We did some good business early on to get Adnan [Januzaj] in when we did, and [Javi] Manquillo from Atletico Madrid, and now we’ve got a centre-half from Man City, and Ndong from France.
“That’s four players who are 21 or 22 - six including Paddy McNair and Donald Love - and suddenly there’s a group of younger players.
“What I’ve tried to get is a younger group of players, to give us more energy.”
