GUS POYET dreams of the day when he can think about adding a ‘Diego Costa-type’ signing to take Sunderland to the next level as he struggles to bring greater consistency to the club.

It is not that Poyet thinks the Black Cats will ever be in a position to compete for the Premier League title under his watch, so he knows landing the likes of Costa is unlikely to be ever in his target range.

But he does think that, relatively speaking, there will be players he can attract to Wearside who are capable of turning Sunderland in to a greater force in the top-flight.

Poyet has been around English football for more than a decade so is well aware of the peaks and troughs that have been experienced at the Stadium of Light. He has had his fair share during his 13 months at the helm.

But he is satisfied that, with time, he can ensure Sunderland make the sort of progress required to enable him to go out and add that extra bit of a magic he would love at his disposal.

“I would like – and this is a dream, more than a possibility – to plan long-term,” said the Uruguayan boss. “But you need to be realistic. My idea was to plan for this season or next – of course in the Premier League – because of the length of the contract I have. I don’t want to go too far ahead and I don’t want to be starting again next year.

“It looks like, unfortunately, in the last two years we’ve always been starting again with another seven, eight or nine players, then another eight, nine or ten players. There’s got to be a moment where you need to add that certain player who’s going to make a difference.

“You need that player who is so important that you are going to become a good team for sure; maybe not at the level of (Cesc) Fabregas and (Diego) Costa, but that idea, like Chelsea did in the summer. When we achieve that we’re going to be very, very difficult to play against because you’re going to have a certain style and power in the team that is totally different to the rest.”

Poyet feels that all of the teams who tend to struggle at the wrong end of the table have experienced similar problems in their bid to establish themselves in the top-flight. He has a plan and is keen to stick to it.

He said: “If you see all the teams at the bottom, with the exception of one that is having a bad year, it’s every year that they’re bringing in another nine, another eight (players). It’s impossible. It’s a contradiction really. We’re asking for time because we’re bringing in players, and then the next year you bring another nine or ten. So how many do you need? Twenty-five?

“We need to make sure at Sunderland we do it in a certain way. My aim was to play the way we did before Stoke. The mood was so dark because we didn’t win a game but I was thinking, ‘We are better, definitely we are better. We are there – or that close.’

“We knew it. It’s happened a lot here the last few years - including last year under me so I’m not taking responsibility away from me. After a few wins it’s ‘That’s it’. No, no, it’s not. It’s until the last minute of the last game.”

After the 8-0 drubbing at Southampton on October 18, Sunderland have improved. Despite losing 2-0 at home to Arsenal, a victory at Crystal Palace was followed by a hard-earned point against Everton last Sunday ahead of the trip to Leicester on November 22.

Poyet said: “I thought we were there before the Southampton game. If we had won on Sunday it would have looked like a very good start. Without the win, it was OK. But you’ve got to be like that all of the time, and not have those terrible feelings we had at Southampton.

“I don’t know how things like that Southampton defeat happen, I cannot understand it, it’s impossible to. I watch the game, we analyse it, we talk again about 100 things. You ask yourself why you did this and why you did that, blah, blah.

“At the end of the day, it’s one game. You try to erase it, delete – gone. But it’s going to be there for a long time. Unfortunately it happened to us and you have to make sure you don’t put yourself in that situation again.”

Poyet is set for talks during the international break to discuss January transfer plans with sporting director Lee Congerton. Next summer is also likely to be on the agenda.

It has emerged that Sunderland could also have to deal with an offer from Napoli for winger Emmanuel Giaccherini. The Italy international is sidelined through injury but has struggled to make a real impact since his £8.7m arrival from Juventus 14 months ago.