As Paolo Di Canio readied himself and his new squad for the upcoming 2013/14, he probably did not anticipate the extremely multi-cultural and vast numbers that would be in his squad. With Roberto De Fanti now the Director of Football, he was tasked with assembling a squad of players that would help the club move away from relegation battles once and for all.
Similar to the years before - and after - Di Canio failed in this mission and with the benefit of hindsight, it is no surprise given the sheer numbers that the new DoF brought in. One would be forgiven for thinking that in 13 players, there should be at least some gems within that number. The facts are that, other than the two loan signings in Ki Sung-Yueng and Fabio Borini, the rest of the outfield players barely contributed anything substantial.
Sure, Italian international Emanuele Giaccherini showed glimpses of ability, but that was all it was - glimpses. Striker Jozy Altidore was a complete flop, and the likes of Charis Mavrias and David Moberg-Karlsson were so off the pace they barely even featured for the team.
When reflecting upon this years later, the one (and maybe only) thing that this writer would agree on with the head coach Di Canio is that his squad lacked Premier League experience, or ‘Britishness’… something another ex-Sunderland manager once clamoured for.
In fairness to our charismatic Italian head coach, he was vociferous about this issue before and after his time at the club. With De Fanti seemingly desperate to make our squad akin to something more likely to be witnessed at the European Parliament in Brussels, Di Canio spoke out on this day twelve years ago about his desire for some homegrown players in his squad.
One player that Di Canio was desperate to get on board was Tottenham Hotspur’s midfielder Tom Huddlestone, who was free to leave the London club. The head coach was looking for a homegrown midfielder to help with his somewhat inexperienced new side. The issue was that the club appeared to now need to sell to buy, and this had seen negotiations over a £5 million move stall as the club looked at who they could sell to raise funds.
This was frustrating Di Canio as he felt this was a key part of his Sunderland jigsaw.
> _“The club is working on the two full-backs, but more important to me is the need to get a key player in central midfield – someone who’s English,” speaking from Denmark he said. “He needs to be English, with a physical presence, because we have analysed that that is a need we have._
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> _“English, because he needs to know English football inside out. And also a player with very good quality – because we want to play attractive football which gets good results.”_
Frustration grew over this as Huddlestone was allowed to go to rival club Hull City for a relatively small fee. Despite links with Scott Parker and Danny Guthrie, the loan signing of Ki was the closest the club came to a ‘British’ midfielder.
This issue was one Di Canio would point to after his dismissal from the club in September.
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