Chairman Niall Quinn is optimistic Sunderland will sign Mido and Craig Gordon before the weekend and insisted the club will not be swayed by "fashion" when it comes to recruitment.
The club's manager Roy Keane yesterday confirmed a bid for Tottenham's Egypt striker Mido, who looked set to join Birmingham for £6million until the deal fell through.
And Sunderland are battling with Aston Villa to persuade 24-year-old Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon to join the club.
Quinn, who is Sunderland chairman, told BBC Radio Five Live: "This is Roy's department really but we are trying hard - there are lots of bits and pieces going on behind the scenes.
"If it takes a bit longer so be it, we are not going to lose our nerve now. My message to our fans is that we haven't jumped in when an agent has rung us with a fashionable player.
"A lot of things have to fall right for someone to come to play at Sunderland."
Sunderland agreed a fee of Stg6million with Wigan for Leighton Baines, who completed his move to Everton for less today, while Jermain Defoe also rejected the opportunity to move to Wearside.
But Quinn added: "It's been suggested people have turned us down but it might be the other way around as well.
"Character is important to us. The players showed it in abundance last season and if you're not prepared to scrap in a Sunderland shirt, Roy Keane and Sunderland is not the place for you."
Quinn, speaking at the Premier League's 'Creating Chances' launch, last month suggested the fees some clubs were paying were artificially inflating the transfer market.
Defenders Russell Anderson, Greg Halford and Paul McShane, midfielders Dickson Etuhu and Kieran Richardson and striker Michael Chopra have already moved to the Stadium of Light this summer at a cost of around €24million.
And Quinn continued today: "I don't regret anything I said - all I said is we are trying to do the same thing and some of us are going to fail. There are people on the outside rubbing their hands because we have got the market going again.
"We are as guilty as anyone else and fair play to Portsmouth and West Ham, I wasn't having a go at them. But the only people benefiting are players and agents - they are taking all the money out of the game and when people realise that they will find out what the Premier League is all about."
