Black Cats need a root and branch overhaul
WHY SUNDERLAND MUST RIP UP SQUAD IN SUMMER – AND PRACTICALLY START AGAIN
DRAIN the swamp. Clean the Augean stables.
Call it what you want, this summer must see the the biggest clearout of playing staff in Sunderland’s history.
Set aside the handful who have graduated from the Academy, and there is no connection between the fans and this group of players.
In years gone by, the sale of a star player would have stirred fury.
Sunderland do not have any star players any more, and the sale of any one of the senior pros in the summer would provoke a shrug, at best – and in many cases a celebration.
While the squad contains players accumulated over a nine-year timeframe, and nine different managers, most are just passing through.
And Chris Coleman, assuming he stays on as manager – or, for that matter, whoever is in charge – must clear the decks and start virtually from scratch.
A dozen players are set to depart when their contracts run out at the end of the season. Seven loanees will return to their parent clubs, with Lee Camp, Ty Browning, Brendan Galloway, Jake Clarke-Salter, Ovie Ejaria, Jonny Williams, and Ashley Fletcher, having done little to help Sunderland’s cause and nothing to burnish their own credentials.
And none of the five Black Cats whose deals expire at the end of June are likely to be kept on.
At 37, John O’Shea may well hang up his boots; Marc Wilson and Kazenga LuaLua have spent more time on the treatment table than out on the pitch; Billy Jones can no longer cut it; and Darron Gibson’s arrest on suspicion of drink-driving ended any chance he had of a new deal.
By any normal standards, a dozen players out – and replacements brought in – would be a revolution.
But given the deep-seated rot that has taken hold on Wearside, it merely scratches the surface.
A dozen departures will still leave 19 players under contract, and the futures of almost all of them hang in the balance. Ten players will be entering the final year of their current contracts, and their prospects range from priority cases for new deals, to dead in the water.
Teenagers Joel Asoro and Josh Maja fit firmly into the first category. Elliot Embleton and Max Stryjek are also promising talents who deserve new contracts, while George Honeyman and Lynden Gooch are also likely to be offered extensions.
As for the others, the club will surely try to offload flops Robbin Ruiter and Callum McManaman, if they can find takers. Adam Matthews may have a part to play, but there remains a question mark against his name.
That leaves Jack Rodwell, whose career is dead in the water and whose reputation is in tatters.
As it stands, Sunderland are saddled with another year of paying £70,000 per week for no return and, even though money will be tighter than ever this summer, paying him off may be the only way to resolve a toxic situation.
That leaves nine ‘long-termers’ – by which I mean players with at least two years on their contracts.
Paddy McNair, Bryan Oviedo, Aiden McGeady, Duncan Watmore, Donald Love, and Ethan Robson, are all under contract until 2020; Lamine Kone, Lee Cattermole, and Jason Steele, until 2021.
Academy product Robson signed a new deal this month, and is safe.
Oviedo will go to the World Cup this summer and is bound to attract interest, especially if Sunderland are relegated. McGeady has blown hot and cold this season, and whether he stays may depend largely on whether another club makes an offer.
McNair and Watmore have been beset by injuries but, assuming they overcome those – and are not sold off – they could form the nucleus of a revamped team. Love is a squad player at best. Steele has endured a nightmare year, almost left in January, and it would probably be best all round if he makes a fresh start elsewhere. Cattermole has disappointed this season, Kone has been well belowpar; both may well be sold in the summer to recoup some cash. Of the five first-teamers currently out on loan, deals are already in place to see Fabio Borini’s move to AC Milan become permanent, and Jeremain Lens’ switch to Besiktas. As for Wahbi Khazri and Papy Djilobodji, who are both under contract until 2020, they had no interest in playing in the Championship this season and will be sold in the summer – if any takers can be found – and Didier Ndong will also almost certainly move on at a large loss. The squad will be pared back to the bare bones, and a whole crop of new players will have to be brought in to replace those heading for the exits. If owner Ellis Short remains in charge, it will have to be done on a shoestring once again with bargain basement signings and a collection of loan signings. It must be done nevertheless. Sunderland supporters would much prefer that the clearout begins at the very top with Short himself, and a new owner provides the investment that their club so desperately needs.