Sunderland offer olive branch to Spurs in bid to land defensive star

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce will offer an olive branch to Tottenham in a bid to land Alan Hutton.

Scotland international Hutton has impressed on a short-term loan from White Hart Lane, and Bruce is keen to seal a £6m deal for the full-back in the summer.

Transfer talks promise to be tense due to the bad blood between the clubs after Darren Bent's protracted £10m move to Wearside last year.

The Black Cats' 19-goal record signing was forced to issue a grovelling apology after using his Twitter account to accuse Spurs chairman Daniel Levy of dragging his heels in a bid to scupper a move as frustrations ran high on both sides at the slow progress of talks.

Bruce hopes time has helped to heal the rift, but is ready to act as peacemaker to smooth his pursuit of £28,000-a-week Hutton, who has been on the losing side just once in his six appearances for the Wearsiders.

Bruce said: "We have to respect Spurs. I've not spoken to Harry Redknapp about it but he was pretty desperate for him to get some football under his belt. If Alan is available then yes, I would be interested.

"He's done particularly well for us. He's an excellent player who has fitted in really well."