Adnan Januzaj and Marouane Fellaini of ‘interest’ to Sunderland

“I don’t know if you can really do much business in that period”, he said.

“Ultimately the key is to win football matches”.

And Sunderland are also interested in bringing Spurs’ USA global right-back Yedlin back to Wearside after he impressed last term.

The English clubs’ European rivals are all too aware of the extra spending power though, with new Sunderland boss Moyes admitting Premier League clubs are faced with inflated fees to secure their top targets.

And though still dismayed by the way it all ended, he believes he benefited from his time at United – however brief. That is my level. “You don’t get offered the Real Madrid job, the Barcelona job, the Manchester United job, if you’ve not had something to suggest that there’s a reason for it”.

However, Moyes said he expected to make additions to the squad soon.

“So I would say that they are players who are out there, but they are among a number of players who we are looking at”. I want the supporters to be excited by what they see but I can’t guarantee that on day one.

Moyes, 53, gave his first press conference as Sunderland manager on Monday.

“He’s told me “whatever you need to do to get it turned around, we’ll do it”. This reminds me a little bit of Everton when I took over.

I’m sure we’re interested in loads of players, but David is right – if someone like Fellaini is available, we won’t be the only ones after him and we have to be realistic with our chances.

“It’s obvious we need a new right-back, a centre-half and a centre-forward – and that’s before we even start to think about anything else or improving a different area”, he added.

The Black Cats are yet to sign a player this summer but Moyes says moves have already been made behind the scenes.

“That’s a scandalous statistic for different reasons”.

“It was great to play golf and spend time with my family but this is what I do and I want to get back and get on with it”, Moyes said.

The former Everton and Manchester United boss is expecting a long-term building job to bring stability to the club, who have flirted with relegation for the past four seasons.

‘What we want to try and do is get the right players at the right price, like we did in the early days (at Everton).

In my last eight years I never finished outside the top eight.