New Sunderland manager David Moyes has confirmed that he is interested in signing Manchester United duo Marouane Fellaini and Adnan Januzaj.
Moyes, who has replaced Sam Allardyce as Sunderland boss, brought Belgium international Fellaini to England when in charge of Everton in 2008, signing him for a second time after taking charge at United in 2013.
He also gave Januzaj his chance in the United first team during his brief reign at Old Trafford, with the Belgian scoring twice on his first-ever start, at Sunderland, in October 2013.
Fellaini and Januzaj are reported to be surplus to requirements under new United manager Jose Mourinho, and Moyes confirmed during his first Sunderland news conference that he would be open to deals.
"If any of those good players want to join me I'd be happy to have them," he said. "They're excellent players. We're interested, but I'm sure there's a load of other clubs that are as well."
Fellaini scored in United's 5-2 friendly victory over Galatasaray on Saturday, but Januzaj did not travel to Sweden with the squad and Mourinho said after the game that he would only give game time to players who are in his plans for the coming season.
Moyes suggested that it may be difficult for Sunderland to sign players of their calibre unless the team's fortunes improved.
"We're interested in lots of good players," he said. "You have to have a realistic view. There'll be some players we can attract just now and some players we can't.
"We'll try and get the ones we can and the ones who want to come here and start on the new journey we're on.
"We have offers in for people already and we're working hard. I've been really impressed by the new chief executive [Martin Bain]."
He added: "It is vitally important that we try to add to the squad. We want good players though -- I don't want to be rash in it.
"I've never been off the telephone, I've done an awful lot of work just trying to find out who could be available and what could happen.
"We've got a couple of offers in for players just now, written offers, and we are just waiting for them to come back."
Sunderland have endured a frustrating summer in the transfer market so far, and are yet to make any signings.
Moyes said that had largely been down to the FA holding talks with Sam Allardyce about the England job over a period of several weeks, but he remains confident deals will be completed soon.
"We'll make things work. Things will turn around," he said. "We have offers in for people already and we're working hard.
"I'm hoping we can get things to move quite quickly [but] I think it's a difficult window because of the prices."
Sunderland narrowly avoided relegation last season but Moyes feels he is taking over a "big club" and said: "We need to make progress up the league and compete where we should be competing.
"Sunderland have potential that many clubs don't have, but we have to progress.
"I want to win. Winning is the biggest thing for me. I have the fourth-best winning record in the Premier League. I don't want to lose that, I want to better it."
Information from the Press Association was used in this report.