Sunderland have returned to the Premier League for the first time since 2016-17, and they’ll be hoping to buck the trend of promoted sides heading straight back down.
In the last two seasons, the promoted Championship sides have gone straight back to where they came from.
Sunderland will need some signings to ensure they have a chance of remaining in the top flight.
Here, we have used transfer rumours and the club’s stars from last season to build the Black Cats’ dream XI for the 2025-26 campaign.
GK: Anthony Patterson
Sunderland’s No.1 for the past three seasons, 25-year-old Patterson has maintained a good level, with 14, 12 and then 14 clean sheets again during those campaigns.
If he can show that he’s worthy of keeping his place at the higher level, he might well be in for a great career in the top flight.
RB: Trai Hume
Only three players featured more often last season for Sunderland than 23-year-old Hume, and he seems a shoo-in to maintain his right-back role.
He scored three goals and assisted six more in what felt like a breakout season, and he’ll take that confidence into his first Premier League campaign.
CB: Luke O’Nien
There are few more deserving players of a Premier League season than O’Nien, who was there when Sunderland were struggling to escape League One, and is still around now they’ve returned to the top flight.
O’Nien has put his heart and soul into more than 300 games for the Black Cats, in a variety of positions, and at centre-back last season, the 30-year-old scored three goals and assisted one.
He’s consistently in the side, missing just one league game last season and playing 90 minutes in all but three others, so he could well continue to be the rock of his side in the Premier League.
CB: Wilfried Singo
Dan Ballard has struggled with injury problems of late and Chris Mepham has returned to Bournemouth. Now at a higher level, Sunderland will want to ensure they aren’t caught short with a lack of depth.
Our friends at TEAMtalk have suggested that Regis Le Bris has identified Monaco centre-back Singo as a target, in a potential £15million transfer.
Singo could conceivably play as a centre-back, right-back or right midfielder, though he played the majority of his football last season at the heart of defence, which included six Champions League games, in which he scored twice and assisted once.
LB: Dennis Cirkin
Over at TEAMtalk, they have also reported that Sunderland are in the race to sign Mozambique international Reinildo Mandava.
The 31-year-old, who has just played in his fourth season for Atleti, might well be a decent asset for the Black Cats, after north of 100 games for the LaLiga giants.
But it feels unfair for him to displace Cirkin as a starter, after he scored three goals and assisted three more last season, following five goals and one assist the season prior.
RM: Kwame Poku
An earlier draft of this piece featured former loan hero Amad Diallo.
There are reports that the Black Cats are keen to take the Ivorian back to Wearside (we’re sure they are), but even in a dream scenario we just can’t see that one happening.
Even if Manchester United sign Bryan Mbeumo and he gets pushed down the pecking order, a return to Sunderland is surely all but impossible.
Poku feels like a more realistic target. The Peterborough winger is expected to leave and play at a higher level.
He could be a canny pick-up, but you imagine Le Bris would favour a bit more ready-made star power for his first XI.
CM: Jordan Henderson
A return to Sunderland for former academy star Henderson would be perfect for the club now. The midfielder has gone on to big things, lifting the Premier League and Champions League as captain of Liverpool.
Henderson has made a couple of moves since then, though, suggesting he’s not found himself too settled to be able to depart another club.
It would surely be a huge draw, after everything he’s achieved, to return to his boyhood club on their return to the Premier League and help them to stave off the drop, taking the place of Jobe Bellingham, who’d surely have been a great asset at that level had Borussia Dortmund not snapped him up.
Links have indeed emerged on Henderson’s potential return to Sunderland, and fans will hope it happens.
That signing could help 18-year-old Chris Rigg no end, as the prodigiously talented youngster could learn how to play in the Premier League from 35-year-old Henderson, before potentially taking his place as a starter soon enough.
CM: Dan Neil
Nobody played more often than Sunderland captain Neil last season, with the 23-year-old midfielder a very important asset through 48 games in all competitions.
He scored two goals and assisted three more in the Championship, and led his side exceptionally as they reached the Premier League.
Linked with some bigger clubs, the Black Cats will know the importance of keeping their young captain, who could go to the next level of his game with them if he remains.
LM: Enzo Le Fee
It was a big snare for Sunderland when they got Roma midfielder Le Fee through the door on loan in January, with an obligation to buy him for just over £19million in the summer.
Le Fee can play anywhere in the midfield, but has largely featured on the left flank for the Black Cats.
The Frenchman had one goal and one assist to his name in the regular season, but showed his importance even more so in the playoffs, with an assist in each leg of the playoff semi-finals victory against Coventry.
His skill and versatility might well be a difference maker for Sunderland in the Premier League.
ST: Wilson Isidor
A permanent signing at the beginning of 2025 after a loan from Zenit St Petersburg, Isidor is clearly firmly in Sunderland’s future plans.
The 24-year-old striker scored 13 goals and assisted two more in the Championship and the playoffs last term, and will be looking to keep finding the net in the Premier League.
ST: Jamie Vardy
While the validity of the reports could be questioned in regards to Sunderland’s interest in Vardy, surely no newly-promoted Premier League side would say no to the signing of a man with 145 Premier League goals to his name.
At 38 years of age, Vardy scored nine goals and assisted four last season, and has previously shown he’s capable of thriving in a side who don’t have much expected of them.
The king sh*thouse bringing the chaos in a Tyne-Wear derby? Yes please.
An alternative striker signing who Sunderland are said to be leading the race for is Vladyslav Vanat, the Dynamo Kyiv forward who bagged 21 goals in all competitions last term, including two in Champions League qualifying.
Sunderland XI 2025-26 Dream for Premier League featuring Jamie Vardy
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