Turner just the type Bruce was looking for; Turner the type of player Bruce wanted.

Byline: Steve Brown 

STEVE BRUCE believes England prospect Michael Turner is precisely the calibre of player to set the benchmark for his Sunderland revolution.

The 25-year-old joined the Black Cats a fortnight ago in a pounds 6m move from Hull City. He is expected to make his debut, against the Tigers, today.

After Bruce dropped his interest in free agent Lucas Neill and revealed Anton Ferdinand's reported transfer window move to Tottenham was "never going to be a goer", the addition of Turner, he said, gave him just the competition for centre-back places he craves. And, Bruce added, as one of the Premier League's brightest young defensive prospects, Turner can set an important new standard at the Stadium of Light.

"He is exactly the type of player I hoped I would be able to sign when I took this job," Bruce said. "He is the sort you want and I like his grounding. He has come from the lower divisions, played there a long time.

"He is tough, uncompromising and everyone watched him in the lower divisions and said 'I wonder if he could play at a higher level'. He is a better footballer than a lot of people think.

"He is very decent with the ball at his feet and had a really good season with Hull last year, a fantastic season.

"He is another one, the right age, who ticks all the boxes. I'm delighted to get him in.

"I know what he's like because there were (similar) times in my own career - I was seven years at Gillingham - and everyone looked and I thought I was never going to get the chance. They said I couldn't run, wasn't big enough and I thought I was just going to end up in the lower divisions so I needed someone to take a chance with me and that is what happened."

Now Bruce has taken that chance on Turner, knowing it hands Sunderland a number of options in the heart of their defence and short of tipping Turner for Turn to Page 95