Why Brian Brobbey is starting to show his best form for Sunderland
Sunderland will look to build on a strong start to the season when the January transfer window opens
Florent Ghisolfi has confirmed that Sunderland will look to strengthen their squad in the January transfer window but says it is vital the club allow their current squad time to develop.
Sunderland's director of football told The Echo this week that the club were determined to keep working with and improving the squad who have made such a strong start to the Premier League campaign, particularly given the young average age of the group. Ghisolfi does expect both incomings and outgoings over the course of the month but has made clear the window will be nothing like summer one in which 14 new signings were made.
He also stressed that recruiting the right characters to add to a strong dressing-room culture is crucial.
"The first thing is to continue to improve the players we have in the team today," Ghisolfi said.
"I spoke before for example about Dan Ballard, I can look across every market in the world and I will not be able to find a Ballard with this identity, this integration he has in the team. We have one of the youngest teams in Europe, the youngest team in the Premier League with Chelsea and so we have to continue to work on this team. This is the most important thing. There was a lot of change this summer because we needed to upgrade the level of the team but now it's time to work with them to keep this cohesion and to reinforce it. Of course, I think it's always important to give a bit of oxygen to the team with some exit and some players arriving with a new energy. But the priority will be the mentality [of the player] to keep this cohesion with the team. So we won't expect to change all the team, to change a lot of things, but more to reinforce what we are doing well today."
Ghisolfi has made clear that the ownership group will continue to invest in the squad, highlighting the need to close the gap that still exists to the rest of the Premier League.
Equally key, though, will be ensuring the side which is performing so well is not destabilised by too much change in a short period of time.
"Our philosophy, I think we prefer stability," Ghisofli said.
"We think and I think there is a big, big link with stability and [good] performance. We knew that we had to improve the team a lot this summer, this was a fact. I say that we didn't spend money, we invested it and this is important to say. It was important to invest because if you take the cost of the squad, we are 22nd in England in terms of squad cost so it means there was a big gap we had to bridge, the investment was a minimum we can say. We had to find a balance between investing in young players, investment in experienced players, big investment and also in free agents.. so it was finding a balance. But today we still have a gap to the other clubs who spent or invested a lot so yeah, we have to continue to do that cleverly. But stability will be important in every position in the club and in the team also and as I said now, doing change cleverly and piece by piece."
The Echo has launched a new WhatsApp SAFC channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates directly to your phone.Simply click this link to join our SAFC WhatsApp channel.
What Régis Le Bris has already said about the January transfer window
Ghisolfi's comments echoed that of the Sunderland head coach last week, who hinted that the club would only be looking to add 'one or two' players in January.
"If it is possible to improve the squad, that will be good," Le Bris said.
"We have a new window where we can challenge the balance of the team. Maybe for some players, it will be interesting to leave on loan to get some minutes. Then if we can find one or two targets to reinforce the squad, then great. But we must find not only the right quality, but also someone who can be connected with the whole project. That is vital for us.
“We don’t have to make big changes, and that shows that we worked well in the transfer window before. Well done for that part, but stay aware and stay alert. Sometimes, if you add something, it is not always more, it can sometimes be less. Getting the balance right is key – it will be very important for us in January.”
Continue Reading