So it Begins…The Transfer Window Comes Alive

And just like that the transfer window is well and truly brought to life. Although no official communication has been broadcast by the club, it appears that Sunderland have completed 2 transfers in the last few days. Habib Diarra will become the clubs record signing, quickly overtaking that of Enzo Le Fee’s fee after signing permanently following promotion. It also almost doubles the fee paid for Didier N’Dong which is always a highlight.

Diarra, 21, is reportedly incoming from Strasbourg and is a Senegalese international central midfielder who also happened to score against England in the recent fixture between the two nations. I say reportedly because, although Mr Romano has given it the “Here We Go” there’s nothing official from the club yet. The second reported signing is former Atleico Madrid left back Reinildo Mandava who was released following the expiry of his contract. Both of these signings, if they are announced, demonstrate not necessarily a seismic shift from the club just an upgrade on the current model of mixing high quality young talent with experienced talent. The parameters have shifted in terms of ability and cost but I think foundation remains the same.

The hierarchy are clearly looking to go about their business in the usual quiet and effective way they have done in previous years. The calibre of players we are been linked too also shows that we are been taken as a serious contender for staying up. I fully expect a busy few weeks in terms of incomings but also outgoings. The club has a fair bit to trim down and meaning no disrespect any player this applies to. The squad itself is, in a sense, a victim of its own success. The club were targeting a return to the Premier League next season and while the play off final success is a dream scenario. For many players it could be a roadblock in their careers. Where some players may have flourished from another season of championship football, many of them will now be thinking that their future lies away from Sunderland. Alan Brown, Alese, Huggins, Seelt and others may now be wondering what is next for them.

There are a few obvious departures; Hemir, Ba etc… but the reality is, players and the club have a choice to make because Kristjan Speakman has often spoke on focusing on what’s best for the players career but if you need space for PSR or just room in the academy, what do you do? I do wonder if some players may part with mutual terminations of their contracts. None of our players are on big contracts so there wouldn’t necessarily be huge fees but if no one comes in for them, what do you do?

While I hope our big sales are over for the season, I think the club will spend big and give this season a good go. The early signs are promising and who knows we may be pleasantly surprised by one or 2 of our squad players who actually grow into decent EPL players. The window has a long way to go and of course there is still time for twists and turns, I don’t see the club wanting to make any further major sales without first having a good plan in place.

The ultimate goal is obviously staying up and building from strength to strength all while maintaining a model of signing and developing young talent and selling them on for a profit in the future. This will not always be successful (as we’ve seen) and sometimes players just don’t suit clubs (as we’ve seen) however, I think the squad has some key elements which probably puts us in a promising position. Element 1 is a close group of players. This season that team went through a lot of ups and downs but stuck together and boy did it show. Element 2 is unlimited potential, the young guns have a ceiling as high as they want it to be now. As long as they stay the course there’s no reason most of the young players cannot become solid premier league talents. Element 3 A head coach who is willing to fail. RLB has tweaked his system a lot this season. Quite often in post game interviews, he’d talk about solving problems at half time. The 4-4-2s, the 4-2-3-1s, the Frenchman has shown he isn’t afraid to fail and is willing to adapt. If you take Southampton from last season, the sheer reluctance from Russel Martin to adapt how he plays basically enabled them to fail before they even started. Le Bris plays a style suited to the premier league, its fast, counter attacking football.

While you can add many more to this list for me, the three main components are listed above. An owner willing to invest helps, a good structure throughout the club always helps as well. I’m very much quietly optimistic about our chances next season, I don’t think we will pull up many trees but I think we will certainly do enough to survive but time will tell. There’s a long window to go and always January to improve upon. Who knows what might happen.