The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
Quality counts as Cats look to summer deals
SUNDERLAND’S biggest challenge in the summer transfer window will be ‘maintaining the level of quality’ as they look for signings which can build on this season’s success, according to Kristjaan Speakman.
The Black Cats won promotion from League One 12 months ago and made an immediate impact on their return to the Championship, finishing sixth and earning a playoff place.
They were aided by loan players such as Amad Diallo and Edouard Michut, who have since returned to Manchester United and Paris Stgermain respectively, along with permanent signings such as Jack Clarke, Dan Ballard, Aji Alese, and Pierre Ekwah, all of whom were hits.
However, the season – and the injuries suffered along the way – also exposed deficiencies in the squad.
There was no direct replacement for star striker Ross Stewart who spent almost three quarters of the campaign on the sidelines, while the Wearsiders lacked cover for influential holding midfielder Corry Evans and ended with no specialist centre-backs.
Those areas will be among those the club is looking to strengthen, but sporting director Speakman (pictured right) says they will only bring in players of equal or better quality than those who arrived last summer as they look to improve on last season’s performance.
He said: “We will go into the transfer window as we always do, trying to evolve and improve the team.
“We feel there are areas which require strengthening, some of those are more obvious than others.
“We are only ever going to try and acquire the right types of players, the right individuals who are going to contribute to the team in the short and the long term.
“Maintaining the level of quality we have brought in is going to be the most difficult challenge because the team has evolved and also the standard required is increasing.
“Myself and the recruitment staff are relishing that challenge and the work is well under way on that.
“Hopefully we can go quite early into the summer market and that gives us the best opportunity to be well prepared for next season.”
Sunderland are expected to bring in 17-year-old midfielder Jobe Bellingham – younger brother of England and Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham – from Speakman’s old club Birmingham City this summer, with discussions understood to be at an advanced stage. Deals can be set up but cannot be completed until the transfer window opens on Wednesday, June 14.
Sunderland have attracted criticism in the past for taking their time to get deals over the line in the transfer window but Speakman says they want to be out of the blocks as quickly as possible.
He claimed they have been tracking some of their targets for a year or more.
Speakman added: “We will always like to be as early as possible in recruiting players because it gives us the most preparation time and we have pre-season for a reason.
“It is not always possible and you have to be able to find the right player at the right moment and it has to fit for themselves and for us.
“Some of our recruitment work and scouting has been going on, some of the players we are engaging with at the moment has been going on for the last year.
“We want to see some of that hard work come to the forefront and hopefully we can see some more exciting players playing a brand of football which I know the fans like.”