Hutton wants permanent switch to Sunderland

Hutton joined Sunderland on loan in January (GETTY IMAGES)

Defender Alan Hutton is hoping to make his loan move from Tottenham to Sunderland permanent in the summer.

The right-back joined the Black Cats in January and has impressed manager Steve Bruce with some good performances after recovering from a recent groin injury.

And now Hutton is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Darren Bent, who left White Hart Lane for Sunderland last summer.

The Scotland international told the Sunderland Echo: "Of course I'd love to stay.

"It's a massive club and I get on really well with the manager and the rest of the team. They have got everything in place and they are building for the future."

Hutton, 25, joined Tottenham from Rangers in January 2008 in a £9million deal, but a broken metatarsal put him out for a lengthy spell and he subsequently struggled to hold down a regular place under Harry Redknapp.

He added: "I came here desperate to play games. Playing games is all you want to do and, to be fair, I was doing that at Spurs until I had my injury.

"But it was hard for me at Tottenham when I came back from the injury and I didn't seem to get on with the manager all that well.

"But I came here to get playing regularly again, do well and then take it from there. I'll do my best between now and the end of the season and see where that takes me."