Guiu’s 25-day Sunderland career came to an unexpected end at the start of this week when the Black Cats agreed to Chelsea’s request for the 19-year-old to leave Wearside in order to help solve an injury crisis at his parent club.
Within hours of Guiu’s departure being confirmed, the Black Cats were completing the signing of Brobbey, who has moved from Ajax for an initial fee of €20m.
Speakman admits that a desire to maintain positive links with Chelsea, in the hope of potentially securing future loan signings, was part of Sunderland’s thinking over Guiu. However, the Black Cats hierarchy would have been prepared to reject Chelsea’s approach if Brobbey, a target throughout the summer, had not been available and keen to move to England.
“It was a really unusual situation,” said Speakman. “Not one that I can think that I’ve come across personally in the transfer windows over recent years.
“We have to be really respectful to the parent club of the player that we take on loan because we want to make sure we’ve got healthy relationships. And also most importantly, the player.
“Chelsea came to us with a suggestion, Marc as a player would want to go and play for his parent club and have the opportunity that he’s been working for, which is why he came here to have. That meant there was a position where it was on us to make a decision over what we wanted to do.
“We weren’t going to make a decision that put us in a detrimental position, but Brian is a player who we’ve been tracking all summer. There’s one or two other players that we’ve been tracking too, and always in the transfer window, it’s about timing.
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“For us, the timing of being able to take Brian and the timing of our position with Chelsea and with Marc meant that we could agree to it.
“We’re really disappointed on one hand because we really liked Marc. But at the same time, we also really like Brian and we’re really pleased that Brian’s here because we think he’s a player for now and a player for the future.”
Brobbey was not the only player Sunderland signed from Ajax deadline day, with winger Bertrand Traore completing his move minutes before the transfer window swung shut.
Traore, who has signed a one-year contract with the option of an additional year, only became available on deadline day, with Sunderland moving quickly to secure a replacement for Patrick Roberts, who left to join Birmingham City on loan.
Welcome to Sunderland AFC, Bertrand Traoré! 🪄🇧🇫
The forward has signed a one-year contract on Wearside with a Club option of an additional year.
✍️ @livescore
— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) September 1, 2025
“Bertrand’s availability came fairly late in the window,” said Speakman. “In our planning, we had some key positions to make sure we got sorted out first. Once we were comfortable we had those positions in place, with Lutsha [Geertrudia] for example, then that was going to be our next move.
“Luckily, we were able to do that within the timeframe. It was really tight with being the end of the window – there was literally minutes to spare, really. But we feel he’s a really important part of the group moving forward.
“Letting Patrick go – a wide right, left footer – we felt we needed to replace that type of profile. He’s got experience at the top level, so we felt it was a good one for us to move on considering the quality of the player and the type of deal it was.”
While the English transfer window has closed, clubs in a number of other countries can still compete incoming deals, and Speakman is still hoping to be able to engineer deals for a number of the fringe players that have barely featured under Regis Le Bris.
“Our transfer window has concluded, but there are some other windows and markets that are still open so we’re going to continue to work in those markets to try to find opportunities for players that aren’t currently in the first-team squad,” said the sporting director.
“Any professional player at Sunderland, whether they’re outside the squad as a senior player or they’re coming through the academy, has to work as hard as they can to try to get into Regis’ squad and team. That opportunity is there for everybody.
“We have to try to get the right opportunities for the right players. Some players, at the minute, ideally need more regular games because of where they are in their career. We’re trying to facilitate that, and you’ve seen one or two players go out the building in the last week that would be on the edge of our squad, so at the minute, for them and their careers, it’s best for them to play regular games.”