He has been tipped to take over the reigns of power at Old Trafford once Sir Alex Ferguson decides to call it a day, and as such has been cutting his managerial teeth for some time now at mid to low level teams in the English top flight.

The current Sunderland boss, like SAF, is also a man who spots talent early on, and looks to work with it wherever he goes.

It thus came as no surprise this past week when Carlos Cuellar followed the man who first brought him to England when he signed for Villa back in 2008, across the country to the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.

He has previously played for Rangers where his 65 games in a single season is an all-time club record, and before that for Osasuna, and Numancia, scoring along the way for each club he has turned out for.

By trade a centre back he can also play at right back and at times has performed equally as well on the left side of defence,  

He will be a solid addition to the Sunderland defence that last year proved a tad porous at times - letting in 46 goals compared to 45 scored in finishing 13th - admittedly a better goal difference than any other team finishing below ninth position but one area the team need to tighten up if they are to challenge for a better finish come May, 2013.

Now a 'Black Cat', Cuellar has initially signed on for 2-years in the northeast, costing Martin O'Neill's chairman the better part of £8 million in the process; interestingly almost exactly the same price he cost the Midlands club when they brought him down from Rangers 4-years-ago.

His impact will initially be one of bringing experience to a last line of defence that has not been gelling as well as it should, and perhaps one that needs a little bit of a shake up.

Also, look for Carlos to be up there challenging at each corner Sunderland get in the season ahead. At 6 feet three inches he has scored for every major team he has played for so even if he knocks in just 3 or 4 will be contributing close on 10 percent of the total goals scored in the last campaign.

Now, if only Martin can add a decent man up front......