Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat has claimed that his squad is "looking good" in pre-season training.

The Black Cats play their first friendly of the summer against Darlington on Thursday.

Advocaat believes that the length of time until the start of the season will only benefit his players as they look to build on last term's 16th-place finish.

"It's looking really good," Advocaat told the club's official website. "They're looking really sharp already and with no extra kilos so that's very positive."

"They know what I expect on the pitch. You can give them some more ideas about what you want and you have time to train and work on that. You can even try in a game something without thinking about the result. We have four and a half weeks still to go, so it's great."

Sunderland get their Premier League campaign underway with a trip to Leicester City on August 8.