Sunderland’s N’Doye can ease burden on Defoe – Allardyce

REUTERS – Sunderland’s new loan signing Dame N’Doye will ease the goalscoring burden on striker Jermain Defoe, manager Sam Allardyce has said.

The Black Cats have relied heavily on Defoe, who has scored nine times in 14 league starts this season, with the 33-year-old netting over 30 percent of the team’s league goals.

“I don’t think you can have enough forwards in your squad especially if they’re hungry to get on the pitch and show what they can do,” Allardyce told the club’s website (www.safc.com).

“Dame has scored goals and we want somebody in the squad to score more goals, and I also think we need to share them about more because we can’t just rely on Jermain Defoe.”

N’Doye, who failed to score in 12 appearances for parent club Trabzonspor this season, finalised a six-month loan to Sunderland last week with a view to a permanent deal.

In the 30-year-old’s previous stint in England’s top-flight with Hull City, he scored five goals in 15 appearances but could not stop the club being relegated last season.

Sunderland, who are second-bottom in the table, lost 4-1 at Tottenham Hotspur last weekend and host fellow strugglers Bournemouth on Saturday.

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)