Sunderland are on course to avoid relegation from the Premier League, in part, because of their amazing recruitment work in the last summer transfer window.
The headline signing of the window was central midfielder Granit Xhaka for a fee of £13m from Bayer Leverkusen, as the vastly-experienced star, arguably, took a step down to join the club.
He made 297 appearances for Arsenal before his move to Leverkusen, where he won the Bundesliga under Xabi Alonso, yet the Swiss star opted to join a team that had just been promoted from the Championship.
Xhaka-Sunderland
Xhaka has lived up to the hype at the Stadium of Light, scoring one goal and providing five assists in the Premier League as the team's captain, and is set to lead the side to survival.
The Switzerland international could draw comparisons to former Sunderland star Lee Cattermole, who was the midfield linchpin and captain during a run of seasons in the top-flight.
Lee Cattermole's Premier League record at Sunderland
After signing from Wigan Athletic in 2009, the central midfielder made 170 Premier League appearances across eight seasons with the Black Cats, avoiding relegation in seven of those campaigns.
|Lee Cattermole's PL career with Sunderland|
|Season|Premier League finish|
|---|
|16/17|20th|
|15/16|17th|
|14/15|16th|
|13/14|14th|
|12/13|17th|
|11/12|13th|
|10/11|10th|
|09/10|13th|
Cattermole, though, only played eight times in the season in which they were relegated from the top-flight, due to injury, which meant that he did not contribute much to that relegation.
The English captain was not a flashy, big-money, signing in the same way that Xhaka was last summer, so he did not get as much attention from the wider media for his performances.
Xhaka, who has earned plaudits from pundits throughout the season, is the headline-making star for the Black Cats, but Cattermole quietly went about his business at Sunderland, despite being the captain.
terry-cattermole-sunderland
So, whilst there are similarities between the two in that they are both midfield stars and captains, the Swiss talent is not as underrated as the former Wigan ace was.
How Sunderland's summer signing has become the new Lee Cattermole
There is another one of Regis Le Bris' summer signings who better fits being called the new Lee Cattermole at the Stadium of Light than Xhaka does.
Xhaka-Trossard-Sunderland-Arsenal
The Black Cats paid £10.4m to sign central defender Omar Alderete from Spanish side Getafe last summer, which means that he is not even in their top eight most expensive signings for the 2025/26 campaign.
Unlike Xhaka, the Paraguay international did not arrive on Wearside as a high-profile signing with big expectations for his performances for the club, yet he has emerged as an integral member of the squad.
Alderete, who was described as an "absolute monster" by journalist Josh Bunting, has started 26 of his 27 appearances in the Premier League so far this season for the Black Cats, and delivered impressive displays in that time.
The experienced 29-year-old defender, who joined with no prior experience in the Premier League, has largely been a reliable presence at the back for Le Bris, winning 54% of his duels in the division so far.
|Most clearances in 25/26 Premier League|
|Player|Clearances|
|---|
|Virgil van Dijk|233|
|Marcos Senesi|220|
|James Tarkowski|204|
|Joachim Andersen|204|
|Maxence Lacroix|203|
|Omar Alderete|189|
|Daniel Ballard|180|
|Nikola Milenkovic|179|
|Pascal Struijk|178|
|Maxime Esteve|177|
Only five players in the league, including Virgil van Dijk and Maxence Lacroix, have completed more clearances than the Sunderland star this season, which speaks to how impressive his body of defensive work has been.
Like Cattermole did during his time at Sunderland, Alderete is quietly going under the radar as a consistent and reliable performer who can do the dirty work that others in the team may not, leaving the flashy side of the game to other players.
omar-alderete-sunderland
The Paraguayan star may not go on to be sold for £20m or £30m in the future, as he is not a young player with potential, but every team needs experienced players who can deliver week-in-week-out without grabbing headlines.
Alderete is one of those players, just as Cattermole was for Sunderland in the past, and Le Bris has hit the jackpot with the 29-year-old central defender because of that.
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