Sunderland’s Tommy Watson exit to Brighton and Hove Albion is ‘disappointing’, according to former Black Cats player Martin Smith.
Sunderland have sold the winger to the Premier League side. He will officially leave SAFC and link up with the Seagulls in the summer in a deal worth around £10million.
sheffield united captain jack robinson and sunderland star tommy watson SAFC SUFC
Image courtesy of: LEE SMITH/REUTERS.
Regis Le Bris’ side are sat in 4th place in the Championship table as they eye promotion to the top flight. They are inside the play-offs with Burnley, Coventry City and West Brom.
Smith has said, as per a report by BBC Sport: “There’s been noises that teams have been interested and obviously he’s been wanting away if he hasn’t signed a new contract which is sort of disappointing. But you can half understand in terms of, if you’re going to go anywhere, you can understand the pull of Brighton now because of what they’re doing with young lads.
“It’ll be interesting to see how he does because you go there, unless they sell Kaoru Mitoma in the summer, he’s probably going to be sitting on the bench or looking to get a loan.”
Sunderland exit for Tommy Watson
The timing of the announcement of Watson’s transfer to Brighton is strange. Sunderland could be in the same league as the Seagulls in the next campaign too.
Watson has a bright future ahead of him in the game and it is a shame that he won’t be sticking around at the Stadium of Light.
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SAFC - Sunderland fans
Image courtesy of: CRAIG BROUGH/REUTERS.
He has been on the books of the Black Cats for his whole career to date and has risen up through their academy ranks.
The prospect was a regular for the North East outfit at various different youth levels before making his first-team debut in April 2023 in a Championship fixture against Huddersfield Town.
He was handed a new three-year deal by Sunderland last year running until 2026. The Horden-born man scored his first league goals against Stoke City earlier this term.
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Watson has made 12 appearances for the Black Cats so far and has found the net twice.
Sunderland will have to make plans for life without the forward. In the meantime, their focus will be on heading into the play-offs in good form.
They won 1-0 at home to Millwall last time out with defender Trai Hume getting their goal. Next up is an away trip to West Brom this weekend.
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