Thomas Meunier’s 2025/26 season stats compared to two current Sunderland players and a former Black Cats loan signing.
Thomas Meunier has become Sunderland’s first signing of the summer transfer window - and the Belgian international will face some stern competition to secure a place in Regis Le Bris’ side during his first season at the Stadium of Light.
With the Black Cats competing in four competitions after qualifying for the Europa League, there will be plenty of opportunities for Meunier to stake a claim for a regular spot on the right-hand side of Le Bris’ defence - but how do his stats from the 2025/26 season with Ligue 1 club Lille compare to current Black Cats stars Trai Hume and Nordi Mukiele and former loan signing Lutsharel Geertruida? We take a look with the help of the fbref.com website.
Thomas Meunierplaceholder image
Thomas Meunier | Getty Images
Minutes played
There is probably no surprise to discover Mukiele and Hume played more minutes than new team-mate Meunier and former team-mate Geertruida during the 2025/26 league season. Hume featured for an eye-watering 3,036 minutes during the season, with Mukiele sitting on an impressive 2,784 minutes. New signing Meunier comes next with 1,909 minutes across 25 league appearances for Lille and Geertruida played for 1,693 minutes during his 28 appearances for Sunderland before he returned to parent club RB Leipzig at the end of the campaign.
Defensive play
Working on average tackles per 90 minutes, Meunier ranks at the bottom of the list including current Black Cats defender Hume and Mukiele and former loan signing Geertruida. According to fbref.com, Meunier won 0.85 tackles per 90 minutes, which sits behind Geertruida (1.17), Hume (1.36) and Mukiele (1.46). He does better than Hume when it comes to average interceptions per 90 minutes with his average of 0.80 sitting marginally above Hume’s 0.74. For clarity, Mukiele sits at the top of the table with 1.20 interceptions a game, with Geertruida in second place with 1.06.
Attacking play
Nordi Mukiele of Sunderland scores his team's first goal during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sunderland.placeholder image
Nordi Mukiele of Sunderland scores his team's first goal during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sunderland. | Getty Images
One player that can be ruled out of this equation is Dutch international Geertruida, who provided no goals or assists during his season-long stint at the Stadium of Light according to fbref.com. Mukiele outranks Meunier and Hume with a combined total of six goals and assists in 32 appearances, compared to Meunier’s four goal contributions for Lille and Hume’s three for the Black Cats. However, averaged over 90 minutes, Meunier and Mukiele both boast an average of 0.19 goal contributions per game across their respective 25 and 32 appearances.
Team success
One area where Meunier does better than three of the players that guided the Black Cats into Europe last season is with how his team fared when he was on the pitch during the campaign. The Belgian featured in 25 league games last season and those fixtures saw Lille return an average of 2.08 points per game as they qualified for next season’s Champions League. Hume’s 38 games brought an average of 1.42ppg and Mukiele and Geertriuda returned averages of 1.38 and 1.36 respectively.
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