Transfer kitty, Cats’ retained list & Robson treatment
In fact, I don’t think there’ll be much spending in the Championship either.
Across the three EFL divisions, I expect to see a surge in the loan market, and a surge in the number of
The latter is one of the reasons why the last couple of years has been so disappointing from a Sunderland perspective.
Yes, there’s some excellent academy products in the senior squad currently, but should Bali Mumba join Norwich as expected, it won’t leave too many really knocking on the door.
More generally, I think it’s worth stressing that there is absolutely nothing wrong with picking up free agents, or players for modest fees.
Jordan Willis and Luke O’Nien are great examples of that, but the issue is that they have been the exceptions proving the rule that Sunderland haven’t got it right too often.
I agree that the spine needs strengthening. In the current climate, though, it doesn’t necessarily need big transfer fees. It needs investment, absolutely.
There should be no excuse for that, given the money that has been freed up by departures over the last 12 months or so.
Above all else, it’s about good decisions and a good knowledge of the market.
We wait and see how well placed Sunderland are.
I think Ethan Robson is going to have an excellent EFL career, and I strongly suspect we’ll be looking back one day scratching our heads as to how he only made 12 senior appearances for Sunderland.
He’s excellent technically and has proven in his loan spells of late that he can stand up to the physical test, too.
I do think that absolutely, over a long period of time, he has been let down.
The one caveat I would add is that he was going to start last season, which would have been an enormous opportunity, before he suffered an injury.
The biggest error, I think, was in not sorting him out some good loan moves when Sunderland were in the Premier League and he was clearly not needed as cover at that stage. I think that would have accelerated his development and may have meant managers were a little more proactive in giving him opportunities.
That he’s leaving now when he should be the heartbeat of the side ought to give everyone pause for thought when it comes to development and pathways.
In terms of the last few months, it’s disappointing he never got much of a chance.
Parkinson had been enthused when he first came back from Grimsby, confident that he was showing in training he had the capacity to get through the physical demands he places on his two central midfielders, but it just never quite happened.
There was another injury in there as well, and when results were decent we saw how hard it was for players not in the XI to break through.
I’m disappointed he’s leaving, yet also in no doubt that it is the right thing if it means regular football for him.
That’s what he needs and has to prioritise.
I think over a long period of time, it has been a big missed opportunity.
Indeed, I increasingly feel as if that chance to reset and rebuild at the start of this League One journey was missed.
There is always pressure to get results at a big club in League One, but so much of what Sunderland have been, in the last season especially, has just felt muddled.
Keeping Chris Maguire was an obvious call and a good one to get sorted.
More broadly, it’s a little early to tell, isn’t it?
I think supporters would suddenly feel upbeat if, say, Bailey Wright could be added to the current crop.
Jon McLaughlin’s exit is also tough to take.
Right now, there is a lot of work to be done in defensive positions to get the squad close to being ready for a promotion push.
Sunderland look light up front and need a little more guile in central midfield.
With Maguire staying, those attacking midfield positions look decent given that I’m expecting a big campaign from Elliot Embleton.
All in all, it sums up the work to be done this summer.
Particularly in the Under-23 and Under-18 sides, where there are some really talented players (Diamond, Hackett, Patterson, Kiernan to name just a few) but some major gaps to fill to get the teams competitive and to allow for really important loans.
That’s a massive, massive rebuilding project.