It is set to be a very busy summer on Wearside as Sunderland prepare for a Premier League and Europa League campaign
As Florent Ghisolfi plots his second full summer transfer window at Sunderland, the outlook looks more positive than he surely could have ever imagined possible when he arrived from AS Roma last summer.
The core of the team for next season is already in place, and he has the recruitment network he needs after 12 months of building behind the scenes. The focus over the next few months will be adding quality and depth to the group, not an easy task but a very exciting one. Though there will undoubtedly be interest in the team's talented young players, the club are in a strong position to resist and even if there is a major sale, it will only create the scope for more reinvestment.
As Ghisolfi gets to work, he will nevertheless know that he has one headache that has probably gone a little under the radar when the summer window has been discussed on Wearside so far. Though qualifying for the Europa League makes this the most exciting moment to be following Sunderland in a generation, it does pose a challenge in that the Black Cats can now only spend 70% of their revenues on first-team costs rather than the 85% they probably anticipated a few months back when Europe still seemed an outside bet. Sunderland believe they are well placed for the new rules, but it would be pointless pretending it doesn't pose a challenge; the club have to improve the depth and quality of their squad but have seen the financial headroom they have to do so reduced.
It goes without saying then, that Sunderland cannot afford to carry forward contracts for players who realistically have little chance of featuring in Régis Le Bris's plans next season. As it stands, there are a significant number of players in that category. In part this is a consequence of how quickly Sunderland have developed in recent years, meaning that a lot of talented players who have suffered either due to injury or needing longer to adapt than the club have been able to afford have lacked game time and lost momentum. It's left Sunderland with a significant task to work through, something that started in January with the departures of players such as Adil Aouchiche, Joe Anderson and Jay Matete and continued with Ian Poveda's exit in March. There are still a lot of players whose future needs resolving, though.
As it stands, Alan Browne will return from his loan at Middlesbrough this summer though his form and consistency under Kim Hellberg means there is a very good chance they will look to strike a new deal whether it be another loan or a permanent deal. Milan Aleksić has been back at the club since January, his loan in Poland brought to an early conclusion to free up the slot for Arthur Masuaku to go to RC Lens. Aleksić played intermittently for the U21s and needs a new club this summer, while there was no buy clause in the deal that Masuaku move to Ligue 1. He didn't play regularly at Lens, and so there's a good chance he is back for the start of pre-season.
Timothée Pembélé and Nazariy Rusyn will return from loans at Le Havre and Arka Gdynia respectively, with no buy clauses in either of those loans agreed in January. It's been reported in Portugal that Moreirense will not take their option to sign Luis Hemir permanently, and so he is another set to return for pre-season as things stand. Abdoullah Ba remains contracted to the club having been unable to secure a loan move over the last two windows and though his loan at Wolfsburg started positively, Jenson Seelt will return to the club having seen his campaign impacted by injury. Leo Hjelde and Aji Alese will be allowed to find new clubs this summer, while Anthony Patterson will also return from Millwall after their defeat in the play-off semi finals. Patterson will likely have significant interest given his experience at a young age, and any transfer fee would represent pure profit for the club within the new financial rules.
The situation is complicated by the fact that almost all of the players mentioned above secured significant salary rises as a result of the club's promotion to the Premier League, making it harder for clubs who would be interested in signing them to put together a financial package strong enough to get a deal over the line. While Sunderland may well have to be pragmatic, paying up contracts isn't a straightforward solution as that would still come with its own consequences in the SCR rules.
While none of the players mentioned would be anywhere near Sunderland's top bracket of earners, cumulatively the sheer volume of players means this will be a significant chunk of the club's wage bill nevertheless. It's unlikely to prevent Sunderland from being able to go out and do incoming business but equally, finding good solutions earlier rather than later would give Ghisolfi much more room to work with as he bids to expand Le Bris's pool of first-team ready players.
This work won't be the aspect of Sunderland's transfer window that gains the most headlines, but it will be a key priority for Ghisolfi nevertheless.
Simon Adingra's uncertain future at Sunderland explained
Ghislolfi and Le Bris could also have a difficult decision to make on the future of winger Simon Adingra.
His loan move to Monaco has been a success, with the winger playing regularly and making regular contributions. According to L'Equipe, however, the Ligue 1 club do not want to trigger their option to make the move permanent and wish to renegotiate a lower fee. That will mean Sunderland making a potentially relatively significant loss on the fee they paid to sign Adingra from last summer at Brighton, and given his obvious potential and strong recent form they might well be very reluctant to do so. It might be that it is prudent to wait until after the World Cup, where Adingra will represent the Ivory Coast, to gauge the market and make a decision - another loan that could build his value further can't be ruled out at this stage.
Alternatively, Sunderland could look to bring Adingra back into the fold now that they have additional fixtures to play. Though Adingra struggled with some of the defensive demands Le Bris places on his winger, this a more expansive Sunderland team than the one he started in back in August and that could suit his obvious attacking qualities better. If Adingra was to return, however, it would leave Le Bris with three left wingers in his squad and only the inexperienced Jocelin Ta Bi on the right.
Sunderland have ten loanees returning this summer, with a further three players they will be keen to find a new club for. It's a crucial piece of work for Ghisolfi and his team in the weeks and months ahead.
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