Over the last couple of weeks the shape of our recruitment policy as we prepare for the Premier League has become much more apparent. While rising over the last few years from League One, the Sunderland hierarchy had a policy of recruiting mostly young and promising but not expensive players with a view to developing them in the first team.
Our promotion had most of the fanbase wondering what kind of approach we would take to the recruitment. For example, would we see a continuation of our frugal spending, or would we look to buy some players with Premier League experience?
From what we have seen so far, the answer to both of those is a resounding no at this point and not only that, in terms of money spent, KLD and Kristjaan Speakman are well and truly going for it. Diarra and Sadiki are both young players, although Reinildo should bring some experience to the squad. But overall we continue to be heavily linked with young players and with some eye-catching fees involved.
Sunderland v Swansea City - Sky Bet Championship Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
With something in the region of £60-65 million spent so far when you include the purchase of Enzo Le Fée at the time of writing, it could rise to closer to £80 million by the morning if some reports are true and possibly more to come as the weeks unfold. Yet I for one don’t feel concerned that we are spending recklessly in order to try and secure a place in the Premier League for longer than one season.
For one thing, we have raised a significant transfer chest since the start of the season just completed. Apart from the sale of Jobe Bellingham (£30 million) and Tommy Watson (£9 million), it seems so long ago but most people forget that Jack Clarke started last season with us before his sale to Ipswich (£15 million).
The fees involved in the players we have purchased so far may be breaking club records, but it has been eight years since we were involved in the top flight. They are sizeable fees, but not huge by Premier League standards and as we continue our policy of recruiting young players, in my opinion I have seen enough of the fruits of our recruitment team over the last five years to trust that at least a few of the incoming will be successful at Sunderland.
The last time we were in the Premier League the fees that we spent on individual players were not huge by Premier League standards at the time - typically between £10-15 million for our larger buys. The crucial factor, however, was that we did not buy well.
Cardiff City v Sunderland - Sky Bet Championship Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images
Didier Ndong, Papy Djilobodji, Darron Gibson and - a player whose name does not get mentioned in my home because of the sheer shame he brought on the club - were bought for a total outlay of approximately £30-35 million. All of them were sacked by the club with no compensation coming our way. Add on to this Steven Fletcher, Danny Graham, Craig Gardner, and Jack Rodwell who all left on free transfers, plus the Ricky Alvarez fiasco, then there is a transfer deficit of around £70 million ... for not one penny back.
Go further and add the countless players we bought and sold for significant losses in some cases and then a wage bill which year on year was beyond our means, you are looking right there at the reported £100 million plus debt that we crashed out of the Premier League with, straight through the foot of the Championship and nearly out of existence.
From 2013 to 2023 - that is a staggering ten year period - when we sold Ross Stewart to Southampton, Sunderland only sold one player for a profit on his purchase price - Patrick van Aanholt in 2017. It’s pretty damning of our Premier League years in particular, but since 2023 we have sold three players for significant profit to add to the funds from the Tommy Watson deal.
Southampton Unveil New Signing Ross Stewart Photo by Southampton FC via Getty Images
This is why I have faith that as we look to splash the cash we will make a better job of our recruitment this time around. We have had a consistency in our approach for five years, and we are still looking to bring in young players along with one or two experienced heads, same as we have since KLD and co rolled into town. Our head coaches have changed but the underlying philosophies have not, while the last time we graced the Premier League our long-term approach was completely scattergun in terms of coaches, managers, and even Sporting Directors, Managing Directors, and Directors of Football changing year on year.
Not every player we bring in this summer will be a success because not every signing is - that is life - and we have recruited a fair number of players over the last few years who we now want to move on because they never kicked on while on Wearside.
But looking at the way our recruitment is taking shape, getting our targets early in the window and not the dregs left at the bottom of the barrel in the last days, going for some of the best up-and-coming young players in Europe, then you feel the club hierarchy are ambitious to build a team that will be able to compete and stay in the Premier League for more than a few years. This time our ambitions feel different.