A look at the good and the bad of Sunderland’s summer transfer window
You need only look at Sheffield United’s transfer window and their subsequent start to the Championship season to fully understand how much of a sliding doors moment Tommy Watson’s late Wembley winner has proven to be for Sunderland.
While the Black Cats are currently sixth in the Premier League table and have spent their summer signing Champions League stalwarts and continental wunderkinds, the Blades have lost all four of their opening league fixtures under Ruben Selles, and have been rolling out the red carpet for the likes of Ben Mee and Danny Ings - both fine players on their day, but neither one of them Granit Xhaka.
And with that in mind, it is perhaps worth us taking one last proper look at Sunderland’s transfer business in recent weeks to determine what went right, what went wrong, and where it leaves the club heading into their bid for top flight survival...
The Good
I mean, where do we even start? Sunderland outstripped all realistic expectations with their recruitment drive this summer, spending bigger and with more canniness than anybody on Wearside would ever have dared to dream. The most eye-catching signing was very probably the aforementioned Xhaka - a grandiose midfield general who finished 16th in last year’s Ballon d’Or voting, and who should, by rights, be playing Champions League football this season - but there were plenty of other swoon-worthy acquisitions besides.
Take Simon Adingra, for instance, a tricky winger who won the African Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast in 2023, and who has frequently lit up the Premier League already during his stint with Brighton and Hove Albion. Then there are the likes of Omar Alderete and Reinildo Mandava, both boasting a veritable wealth of La Liga experience and an abundance of international pedigree, and club record signing Habib Diarra, who was filched from beneath Leeds United’s noses, and who has already shown several glimpses of the kind of nuisance that he can he grow into.
Even Sunderland’s more understated additions - the likes of goalkeeper Robin Roefs and the omnipresent Noah Sadiki - have hit the ground running (or running and running and running in the latter’s case), and just when it looked as if the Black Cats may finally have started to wind down, they busted open the coffers one last time to complete a triple deadline day swoop for Brian Brobbey, Lutsharel Geertruida, and Bertrand Traore.
Taken holistically, then, this was a summer in which Sunderland signed 15 players (one of whom admittedly headed back to Chelsea pretty sharpish, but more on that in a moment), spent around £167 million in total, and broke the record for the most money forked out by a newly promoted club in Premier League history. They also managed to find new clubs for a number of fringe players, pocketed handsome fees for Jobe Bellingham and Tommy Watson, tied down the likes of Trai Hume and Chris Rigg - amongst others - to long-term contracts, and have ended the window with a well-balanced, well-covered squad that has garnered admiration and plaudits from pundits and casual observers alike. All of that and I haven’t even mentioned Nordi Mukiele, Chemsdine Talbi, Arthur Masuaku, or Enzo Le Fée.
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The Bad
Make no mistake, though, while Sunderland have enjoyed plenty of success this summer, they have also found themselves hamstrung by the odd frustration. The Jhon Lucumí saga saw them miss out on their number one defensive target after Bologna decided to dig their heels in and block his exit. Similarly, Armand Lauriente looked for all the world as if he was about to be unveiled in red and white, only for complications late in the day to derail the deal.
Then, of course, there was the Marc Guiu debacle. Signed from Chelsea on loan to much acclaim, the Spaniard made just three appearances for Sunderland before being promptly recalled by his parent club after an injury to Liam Delap. A real shame, unquestionably, but one softened somewhat by Brobbey’s arrival. And hey, we’ll always have his goal against Huddersfield Town...
Elsewhere, while the likes of Alan Browne and Patrick Roberts were able to secure high quality Championship loans to ensure regular first team action over the coming campaign, there are still a number of outcasts in Regis Le Bris’ squad who are destined to spend the next few months twiddling their thumbs unless they can find willing suitors in one of the few countries where the transfer window remains open for a while yet. It is no doubt a point of mutual disappointment for both club and player that the likes of Ian Poveda, Jay Matete, Abdoullah Ba, Timothee Pembele, and a smattering of others have not wrapped up exits that would allow them to get out there and play on the regular.
From a contract perspective, for all of the good work that has been, there are still doubts over the respective futures of Dan Neil and Dennis Cirkin - although sporting director Kristjaan Speakman has reiterated his belief that everything is under control. Speaking earlier in the week, he said: "We've had similar situations in the past. It's never really been a concern for us because we're on top of the conversation. So there's no ambiguity on where it's at. It's just so difficult over the transfer window to do everything, and we've got some outstanding topics to discuss and to resolve, and they're two of them. So we'll do as we've always done. We'll continue to have those conversations and get to a consensus and a decision on it."
To that end, Speakman has done more than enough to earn supporters’ trust on the matter, but nevertheless, until the ink is dry on those long-awaited extensions, a certain modicum of uncertainty will linger.
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