Sunderland Sporting Director Kristjaan Speakman talks to Head coach Regis Le Bris.
Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman has admitted that the club may look to tweak their operating model after gaining promotion to the Premier League.
The Black Cats had the youngest squad in the Championship with an average age of just 24.1 as they stormed into the play-offs with a vibrant, exciting team.
Having gained promotion thanks to a last-gasp Wembley final win over Sheffield United, attention has quickly turned to how the club can survive in the top flight next season. The last two years has seen the relegation slots been filled by the three promoted clubs, and Sunderland will be looking to buck that trend.
Different clubs have approached it in different ways. The last team to survive - Nottingham Forest in 2023 - did so by the skin of their teeth and only after a mammoth £200million transfer spend.
That has paid dividends, with Forest going on to almost qualify for the Champions League last month, but their financial picture remains uncertain.
Elsewhere, the likes of Leicester City, Southampton, Ipswich Town, Luton Town and Burnley have spent more moderately after promotion.
Sunderland have already smashed their transfer record this month by making Enzo Le Fee's signing permanent as per the terms of his initial loan move from Roma, and there is a suggestion that they will break it again before the summer is out.
Speakman admitted that Sunderland will have to adapt their business this summer, and that they may not be able to rely solely on the young stars who got them promoted. Players with Premier League experience could be added to the ranks in a bid to help them beat the drop.
The sporting director, however, did also emphasise the importance of maintaining the identity built in recent seasons.
“We have to stay true to what we are as a football club and what we have built over the past few years” he said.
“The solution to get us to the Premier League won’t be the identical solution for us to stay in the Premier League, so we will have to adjust in how we operate.”
Balancing ambition with realism, Speakman reiterated the club’s commitment to its youthful, high-performing squad model while recognising the demands of top-flight football.
“We want to aim for high performance and to have a youthful squad, but we also understand the challenge of what the Premier League is," he added.
“It’s the best league in the world and we’re going to have to make sure we have a team that is capable of doing what our teams have done before, but at a higher level.”
The Black Cats are also set to lose a couple of players. Tommy Watson's departure to Brighton has already been confirmed while Jobe Bellingham is on the verge of a move to Borussia Dortmund.