How much Sunderland would have to pay in order to bring a two-time Golden Boot winner to the Premier League was, until recently, a bit of a mystery.
Reports linking Vladyslav Vanat with a move to English football have hardly been in short supply over the last two months. Reports detailing the finances involved in any prospective deal, however, were proving far more elusive.
Well, until now.
Despite Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda both becoming posterboys of Sunderland’s promotion-securing campaign under Regis Le Bris, the Black Cats may look to follow up their top-flight return with a more natural centre-forward.
Isidor and Mayenda, while scorers of great goals, are yet to establish themselves as ‘great goalscorers’.
Vladyslav Vanat, in contrast, secured the Ukrainian Premier League Golden Boot for a second year in a row when Dynamo Kyiv finished top of the tree in the 2024/25 campaign.
Now, Regis Le Bris should have a sizeable summer budget to play with at the Stadium of Light.
The Sunderland-linked Emil Riis will be available for free as his Preston North End contract runs down. Matija Frigan can make his ‘dream’ come true by joining the Black Cats, meanwhile. KVC Westerlo reportedly value the burly Croatian at around £12.5 million.
At long last, meanwhile, some light has finally been shed on the sort of fee required to take Vladyslav Vanat away from Dynamo Kyiv.
Photo by Pat Elmont - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Photo by Pat Elmont – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Ukraine ace Vladyslav Vanat warned off £17m Sunderland transfer
Ukrainian publication Football 24 reports that Vanat has a £17 million release clause in his contract. A clause which – if triggered – would make the 21-goal hitman the second most expensive signing in Sunderland’s history, behind only Enzo Le Fee.
One-time Dynamo Kyiv defender Vladimir Kovalyuk, however, feels that the most sensible next step would not be Sunderland, or England as a whole.
He would prefer to see Vanat, who reached 30 goal contributions across 2024/25 as a whole, prove himself in another, less-pressurised environment before making a switch which could go a long way to making or breaking his reputation.
“In my opinion, Vanat has not yet reached the level of a top European championship,” Kovalyuk, who played for the Blue and Whites in the late-1980s, tells the Dynamo Kyiv Telegram channel.
“He can move to a championship like Hungary or Poland, and he will definitely have playing time there. But it is too early to go to stronger football countries. Vanat should stay at Dynamo to continue progressing amongst a cohort of young guys like him.
“Vladislav is strong and promising [though]. His biggest asset is his instinct for scoring.”
Sunderland already have a shortlist of striker targets
A reliable finisher is no guarantee of survival in the Premier League.
Ipswich Town still finished well adrift in the bottom three despite Liam Delap breaking into double-figures and securing himself a £30 million move to Chelsea, after all.
Yet, a player capable of consistently putting away the chances served up by Le Fee, Patrick Roberts, Romaine Mundle and co would certainly do no harm to Sunderland’s hopes of re-establishing themselves among England’s elite.
Reporter Mikhail Spivakovsky broke the news of Sunderland’s Vanat interest a few days ago. He claims that Vanat is part of a ‘shortlist’ which has already been whittled down to two or three leading candidates.