With news of a takeover emerging at the end of 2020, Sunderland fans may have expected a much busier January transfer window. 

Indeed, Carl Winchester has arrived as Lee Johnson looks to bolster his squad ahead of a potential promotion push, though the takeover process, as well as the salary cap, do look to be stumbling blocks in their attempts to bring more players in. 

Quizzed over the relative lack of updates in regards to the changing of ownership on Twitter, The Sun's Alan Nixon replied to a fan's question. 

When asked whether or not he had any news about the situation, Nixon urged the supporter to have 'patience' and included a wink face emoji in his reply. 

Talking to another Twitter user after his initial response, the journalist then suggested the Black Cats were working on bringing in someone to help 'the French guy', who is presumably Kyril Louis-Dreyfus. 

GIVEMESPORT's Jonathan Gorrie says... 

Around the time the news of the takeover initially broke, an article in The Athletic suggested Louis-Dreyfus was unlikely to 'spend like an oligarch' despite his considerable wealth.

So, it's unclear as to whether or not more would have been done on the incoming front had the club been taken over at this point anyway. 

Last month, the Sunderland Echo revealed Johnson was after more pace and that loan deals for younger players were the most likely profile additions, perhaps suggesting that they are working on incomings no matter who owns the club at the moment.

With so little time left to strengthen and a lot of work to be done to push up the table, the final few days of the window do look hugely important for Sunderland.