| Sunderland recruitment this season 15:32 - May 15 with 3349 views | ringwoodblue |
Looking at the profile of Sunderland’s signings this season (listed below), they bought mostly overseas players from European clubs so I wonder if we will follow suit or continue paying inflated prices for young English players from the Championship or PL.
No doubt we need some players with PL experience like Xhaka but I’m not sure we can attract the likes of John Stones, Callum Wilson and James Tavenier. I also see Robert Lewandowski could be available ;-)
Habib Diarra from Strasbourg. €31.5M
Simon Adingra from Brighton €24.4M
Enzo Le Fée from Roma €23.8M
Chemsdine Talbi from Club Brugge €20M
Brian Brobbey from Ajax €20M
Nilson Angulo from Anderlecht €17.3M
Noah Sadiki from Union SG €17M
Granit Xhaka from Bayer Leverkusen €15M
Nordi Mukiele from PSG €12M
Omar Alderete from Getafe €11.6M
Robin Roefs from NEC €10.5M
Jocelin Ta Bi from Maccabi €4M
Melker Ellborg from Malmo €3.5M
Bertrand Traoré from Ajax €2.9M
Reinildo Mandava from Atlético Madrid Free
Arthur Masuaku from Besiktas Free
Lutsharel Geertruida from RB Leipzig Loan [Post edited 15 May 17:41]
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| Sunderland recruitment this season on 15:56 - May 15 with 2753 views | tractorboy1978 |
I think getting in a couple of experienced PL generals of the right character and with the ability to still perform at that level is really important. I'd then hope we will utilise the markets abroad now that we have a proper scouting/recruitment network in place. |  | | |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 16:04 - May 15 with 2699 views | Jasper |
Also, these are the players that were with Sunderland last season and have stepped up to play significant roles this season:
- Wilson Isidor
- Enzo Le Fée (he joined in Jan 25 on loan)
- Trai Hume
- Daniel Ballard
- Eliezer Mayenda Dossou
So hopefully we have 5-6 in our squad that can do the same, especially as many of ours gained valuable Premier League experience last year. | | | |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 16:15 - May 15 with 2647 views | ipswichtillidie |
If we could sign a no 9 like Brian Brobbey id be over the moon. Exactly to type of brute we need to bully defenders up top and give it to our flair players. Also scores goals
& Dutch!! |  |
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| Sunderland recruitment this season on 16:33 - May 15 with 2569 views | Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
I posted this last July before a ball was kicked and was told it was too risky lol.
Think we need to stop with the PL experience as well, how many of those players had PL appearances before they went to Sunderland?
PL experience for promotion clubs often means washed up. We need topflight European experience with the correct player profiles. The PL is seen as the best league in the world and players from the top league in Germany/France/Spain and across the Americas would potentially to a lower PL club for their chance to play in it.
Sunderland has proper European connections with their coach and a very clued-up director of football, look at the resume of Ghisolfi. We have Ashton talking about our model as being British players that have come through the academies. That was a bit of a joke last time if you want to make a fight of it in the PL. Still, I honestly don't think we could pull of most of these signings if we tried at that stage, maybe a better chance now.
Enzo Le Fée went Roma to Sunderland in the Jan of their promotion season not sure that would have been feasible for us.
Let's hope the people we brought in over the last year they have some better pull and connections but even Court worked with Ashton previously. [Post edited 15 May 16:35]
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| Sunderland recruitment this season on 16:37 - May 15 with 2524 views | naa |
That does make people moaning about us not staying up because we spent £100 on a League One squad look just a little bit foolish though doesn't it?
But yes, we clearly need to recruit from overseas. £20m will get you more than a top Championship player in Europe. | | | |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 16:48 - May 15 with 2443 views | Swansea_Blue |
Ashton on his latest Talk Sport outing said we’d be doing things differently from the top Championship players approach. Without saying it, it sounded like we’d be doing a lot more shopping overseas. Or maybe we’re just going down the crap Championship players route 😆 |  |
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| Sunderland recruitment this season on 17:00 - May 15 with 2405 views | BloomBlue |
Brentford are an established PL team now. When promoted in 2021, they retained basically most of the squad from their championship campaign for their first season in the PL. Even when we played them in the PL last time they were regularly still starting games with 4 or 5 players who played for them in the Championship, I think this season that's been 2 or 3.
But it just proves for every team who change the squad a lot, like Sunderland, there is other proven evidence that retaining the same squad as Brentford did can also be very successful in the PL
People also forget in that |  | | |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 17:11 - May 15 with 2376 views | Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 17:00 - May 15 by BloomBlue |
Brentford are an established PL team now. When promoted in 2021, they retained basically most of the squad from their championship campaign for their first season in the PL. Even when we played them in the PL last time they were regularly still starting games with 4 or 5 players who played for them in the Championship, I think this season that's been 2 or 3.
But it just proves for every team who change the squad a lot, like Sunderland, there is other proven evidence that retaining the same squad as Brentford did can also be very successful in the PL
People also forget in that |
Depends how good the team is you go up with, loads of our starters are not good enough. | |
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| Sunderland recruitment this season on 17:17 - May 15 with 2333 views | BloomBlue |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 17:11 - May 15 by Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
Depends how good the team is you go up with, loads of our starters are not good enough. |
Lots of experts said the same after Brentford won promotion via the playoffs
Toney (for example) they said can score in the Championship but he won't in the Prem, afterall he only came from Peterborough- they said. They even made the point they had failed to replace Ollie Watkins and Benrahma who had moved from Brentford mid-season and many thought they were Brentford's best forwards. | | | |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 17:27 - May 15 with 2314 views | Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 17:17 - May 15 by BloomBlue |
Lots of experts said the same after Brentford won promotion via the playoffs
Toney (for example) they said can score in the Championship but he won't in the Prem, afterall he only came from Peterborough- they said. They even made the point they had failed to replace Ollie Watkins and Benrahma who had moved from Brentford mid-season and many thought they were Brentford's best forwards. |
I can't 2024 happened as it did and some of our fanbase are still this deluded and clamoring for Walton, Taylor and co to start in the PL. | |
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| Sunderland recruitment this season on 19:41 - May 15 with 2145 views | ipswichtillidie |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 17:00 - May 15 by BloomBlue |
Brentford are an established PL team now. When promoted in 2021, they retained basically most of the squad from their championship campaign for their first season in the PL. Even when we played them in the PL last time they were regularly still starting games with 4 or 5 players who played for them in the Championship, I think this season that's been 2 or 3.
But it just proves for every team who change the squad a lot, like Sunderland, there is other proven evidence that retaining the same squad as Brentford did can also be very successful in the PL
People also forget in that |
Yer but our squad isn’t that good, so the Sunderland way is needed. 10-12 players coming in I suspect. That still leaves a core of the squad from last year tbf. | |
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| Sunderland recruitment this season on 19:57 - May 15 with 2060 views | Churchman |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 17:27 - May 15 by Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
I can't 2024 happened as it did and some of our fanbase are still this deluded and clamoring for Walton, Taylor and co to start in the PL. |
Disagree. We tore up our defence, changed the keeper. We lost Luongo and replaced him with dross. We needed a decent central midfield and we didn’t have any midfield bar Sam before his legs gave out.
The defence is settled, better than two seasons ago and Walton is fine. Not the best on the planet but solid enough.
If we can sign a dumper truck centre forward like Brobbey and a couple of decent midfielders, perhaps defensive competition for Furlong and AN Other we won’t be far off. Right side? McAteer has settled and is looking effective but as first choice?
People have been knocking back our players most of the season, but I’ve always felt individually the majority were a step up on their predecessors. It was the team element that took the season to develop, but it certainly did so by seasons end.
This team is not as exciting as 23/24 but it’s significantly more solid which makes it a good place to start from. |  | | |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 20:33 - May 15 with 1977 views | Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 19:57 - May 15 by Churchman |
Disagree. We tore up our defence, changed the keeper. We lost Luongo and replaced him with dross. We needed a decent central midfield and we didn’t have any midfield bar Sam before his legs gave out.
The defence is settled, better than two seasons ago and Walton is fine. Not the best on the planet but solid enough.
If we can sign a dumper truck centre forward like Brobbey and a couple of decent midfielders, perhaps defensive competition for Furlong and AN Other we won’t be far off. Right side? McAteer has settled and is looking effective but as first choice?
People have been knocking back our players most of the season, but I’ve always felt individually the majority were a step up on their predecessors. It was the team element that took the season to develop, but it certainly did so by seasons end.
This team is not as exciting as 23/24 but it’s significantly more solid which makes it a good place to start from. |
Question for you, no slight on him, he’s come in and done very well but how many PL clubs would Walton start for?
You can’t go through a PL season with Christian Walton, you need to do what Sunderland/Forest done and find a top level keeper in Europe for under 10M. Not so you you’ve seen at Burnley. It’s sentimental FC again and we will get relegated. | |
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| Sunderland recruitment this season on 20:45 - May 15 with 1921 views | Vic |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 17:11 - May 15 by Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
Depends how good the team is you go up with, loads of our starters are not good enough. |
It does indeed. But I suspect that the standard of the Prem has gone up since then. |  |
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| Sunderland recruitment this season on 21:16 - May 15 with 1836 views | SuffolkPunchFC |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 16:33 - May 15 by Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
I posted this last July before a ball was kicked and was told it was too risky lol.
Think we need to stop with the PL experience as well, how many of those players had PL appearances before they went to Sunderland?
PL experience for promotion clubs often means washed up. We need topflight European experience with the correct player profiles. The PL is seen as the best league in the world and players from the top league in Germany/France/Spain and across the Americas would potentially to a lower PL club for their chance to play in it.
Sunderland has proper European connections with their coach and a very clued-up director of football, look at the resume of Ghisolfi. We have Ashton talking about our model as being British players that have come through the academies. That was a bit of a joke last time if you want to make a fight of it in the PL. Still, I honestly don't think we could pull of most of these signings if we tried at that stage, maybe a better chance now.
Enzo Le Fée went Roma to Sunderland in the Jan of their promotion season not sure that would have been feasible for us.
Let's hope the people we brought in over the last year they have some better pull and connections but even Court worked with Ashton previously. [Post edited 15 May 16:35]
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We are in a very different position as we enter the PL this time, and I suspect we will (be able to) approach recruitment very differently.
- being promoted so quickly resulted in an uphill battle
- potential recruits saw us as dead certs for relegation, and were reluctant to join
- we didn’t have the recruitment infrastructure & contacts needed to be successful with overseas signings; we were still in the mindset of the L1 promotion club focussed on surviving in the Championship
- we’ve now spent 2 years building infrastructure to support a PL club
- our squad is far stronger this time, which means more of this season’s starters will be adequate squad players (and 4 or 5 might even be starters)
- having bounced straight back will reinforce our potential with potential recruits; we’re not a Luton (which was maybe a real concern for some, having seen us come from L1)
My expectation is that we try to sign 1-3 experienced PL players, a couple of loans for youngsters from top clubs in the top tier European leagues (including PL) and 6-8 experienced players from overseas. | | | |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 23:12 - May 15 with 1651 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
Some unreal recruitment in there.
Sadiki for 17Ms looks an unreal piece of business. Proper proper player. |  |
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| Sunderland recruitment this season on 01:47 - May 16 with 1550 views | Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 21:16 - May 15 by SuffolkPunchFC |
We are in a very different position as we enter the PL this time, and I suspect we will (be able to) approach recruitment very differently.
- being promoted so quickly resulted in an uphill battle
- potential recruits saw us as dead certs for relegation, and were reluctant to join
- we didn’t have the recruitment infrastructure & contacts needed to be successful with overseas signings; we were still in the mindset of the L1 promotion club focussed on surviving in the Championship
- we’ve now spent 2 years building infrastructure to support a PL club
- our squad is far stronger this time, which means more of this season’s starters will be adequate squad players (and 4 or 5 might even be starters)
- having bounced straight back will reinforce our potential with potential recruits; we’re not a Luton (which was maybe a real concern for some, having seen us come from L1)
My expectation is that we try to sign 1-3 experienced PL players, a couple of loans for youngsters from top clubs in the top tier European leagues (including PL) and 6-8 experienced players from overseas. |
Let’s hope so! | |
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| Sunderland recruitment this season on 03:11 - May 16 with 1510 views | tetchris |
John Stones is 31, injury prone, and currently earning £250k a week at Man City. He is not a player we should be looking at or can afford at this stage. OK it’s very likely he will have to take a pay cut, but I doubt he would drop to the sort of level of wages we can afford at this time. Dara o’Shea is believed to be town’s current highest earner at £35k a week. I think MA has alluded to in previous interviews, we can’t pay wages that would put the club in serious financial trouble. I would suspect wages of £40-50k a week would be acceptable for us to pay this time around. Lewandowski current wage at Barcelona is believed to be €400,000 per week and a fixed €100,000 weekly bonus, again wages we cannot afford at this time, also he has been offered £1.48million a week to join Al Hilal!
Sunderland’s recruitment was top notch. Yep they spent a lot of money but if you compare the quality of the players they signed against those we signed primarily from the championship, they have got better value for money. We might be able to claw back good money for Muric, but Ogbene and Szmodics will probably go for less than 50% of what we paid for them two seasons ago.
When you look at our current squad, I’m not sure that there are many who are good enough for the premier league. If we are serious about staying up this time, money will have to be spent and spent much more wisely this time. Sunderland have shown that a better quality player can be brought from abroad for similar money a championship player who has never played in the PL before would cost.
In MA’s interview on TalkSport the other day, he said that we would be looking at recruitment differently this time as we have recruitment staff in place. Hopefully this will bear fruits from European or South American markets. This season we started to recruit from abroad again with the likes of Walle and Matisuwa being signed. MA also said we should be looking at what Sunderland, Brighton, Brentford, Nottm Forest etc have done in the transfer market and we should follow suit. I do hope KM will not resort to type and force MA and his recruitment team to sign the best from the championship again as we know from last time this does not work. OK KM might want to go in for Hackney again, but I think he will sign for a bigger club than us.
This season there was a bigger turnover in staff than KM expected or wanted, but i’m not sure we would have been promoted automatically had the squad not changed as much so in the end it turned a negative into a positive. Although large player incomings and outgoings is disruptive and it takes time for players from abroad to gel and settle, I do think we have to be quite ruthless with the current squad if we want to stay in the PL. For example Jack Taylor has had a great season, but is he PL quality player who will be a regular starter in the X1, personally I don’t think he is, so sentiment aside he should probably be sold, I would also suggest Hirst is similar, he isn’t going to get you 15+ goals a season in the PL. The Akpom deal was a mistake so he is another player we need to move on. Is Mehmeti a PL level player, again being ruthless probably not.
Last time in the PL, KM was loyal to the players who got us promoted, ok partly he didn’t have much choice as our recruitment team was pretty non existent then, but also those players weren’t good enough for the PL, we can’t afford to do that again this time. The squad on paper is better than the one we had last time, but in some of the matches, certain players didn’t perform, we can’t afford to carry players next season for sentimental reasons. For example if players like Nunez don’t step up, then sadly they have no long term future at a club that wants to be in the PL long term. Our objective next season will again be to finish fourth from bottom and the build again season on season, it’s what the likes of Brighton have done since they got promoted to the PL and their business/footballing model works so we should be looking to copy or emulate that. | | | |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 04:50 - May 16 with 1455 views | Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 03:11 - May 16 by tetchris |
John Stones is 31, injury prone, and currently earning £250k a week at Man City. He is not a player we should be looking at or can afford at this stage. OK it’s very likely he will have to take a pay cut, but I doubt he would drop to the sort of level of wages we can afford at this time. Dara o’Shea is believed to be town’s current highest earner at £35k a week. I think MA has alluded to in previous interviews, we can’t pay wages that would put the club in serious financial trouble. I would suspect wages of £40-50k a week would be acceptable for us to pay this time around. Lewandowski current wage at Barcelona is believed to be €400,000 per week and a fixed €100,000 weekly bonus, again wages we cannot afford at this time, also he has been offered £1.48million a week to join Al Hilal!
Sunderland’s recruitment was top notch. Yep they spent a lot of money but if you compare the quality of the players they signed against those we signed primarily from the championship, they have got better value for money. We might be able to claw back good money for Muric, but Ogbene and Szmodics will probably go for less than 50% of what we paid for them two seasons ago.
When you look at our current squad, I’m not sure that there are many who are good enough for the premier league. If we are serious about staying up this time, money will have to be spent and spent much more wisely this time. Sunderland have shown that a better quality player can be brought from abroad for similar money a championship player who has never played in the PL before would cost.
In MA’s interview on TalkSport the other day, he said that we would be looking at recruitment differently this time as we have recruitment staff in place. Hopefully this will bear fruits from European or South American markets. This season we started to recruit from abroad again with the likes of Walle and Matisuwa being signed. MA also said we should be looking at what Sunderland, Brighton, Brentford, Nottm Forest etc have done in the transfer market and we should follow suit. I do hope KM will not resort to type and force MA and his recruitment team to sign the best from the championship again as we know from last time this does not work. OK KM might want to go in for Hackney again, but I think he will sign for a bigger club than us.
This season there was a bigger turnover in staff than KM expected or wanted, but i’m not sure we would have been promoted automatically had the squad not changed as much so in the end it turned a negative into a positive. Although large player incomings and outgoings is disruptive and it takes time for players from abroad to gel and settle, I do think we have to be quite ruthless with the current squad if we want to stay in the PL. For example Jack Taylor has had a great season, but is he PL quality player who will be a regular starter in the X1, personally I don’t think he is, so sentiment aside he should probably be sold, I would also suggest Hirst is similar, he isn’t going to get you 15+ goals a season in the PL. The Akpom deal was a mistake so he is another player we need to move on. Is Mehmeti a PL level player, again being ruthless probably not.
Last time in the PL, KM was loyal to the players who got us promoted, ok partly he didn’t have much choice as our recruitment team was pretty non existent then, but also those players weren’t good enough for the PL, we can’t afford to do that again this time. The squad on paper is better than the one we had last time, but in some of the matches, certain players didn’t perform, we can’t afford to carry players next season for sentimental reasons. For example if players like Nunez don’t step up, then sadly they have no long term future at a club that wants to be in the PL long term. Our objective next season will again be to finish fourth from bottom and the build again season on season, it’s what the likes of Brighton have done since they got promoted to the PL and their business/footballing model works so we should be looking to copy or emulate that. |
I think a lot of fanbase were so success starved, they’ve understandably latched onto to a lot of the players of the last few seasons wherever we find ourselves. For good reason really, as they are absolute club legends because but the brutal reality is not many were anywhere near the top flight levels, which makes sense, many were signed in L1!
There was a lot said about why did we break up such a successful team, it really wasn’t that, it was that for the amount of spend we just didn’t do well enough with a lot of the replacements or squad build out overall IMO. Of course there were a few hits. Hearing the talksport interview about our model of British players last time was alarming to me but 18 months on the words this time sound like we have changed course somewhat, which is great. At the very least we need a mixture of both but I really think abroad is where the value is for top flight players.
BTW looking at every single player that’s moved on from 23/24 it’s hard to pick out any of them lighting it up with their new club. The double promotion team was riding a hell of a wave of momentum with one of the best managers in the game and we they took the champ by storm. Chaplins video today was a bit of an emotional watch but it almost drew a bit of a line under that era, which is a good thing. Still many are saying that we should stick with Walton and Palmer, sign Jens etc, I just don’t get it, it’s like they didn’t watch our season up there and have ignored how clubs succeeded last year.
Sunderland showed the blueprint, look and what they done with their promotion captain. It’s a ruthless league and to stand a chance we need to be ruthless. I’m not sure that really sits well with some of our fanbase or even local media when I listen to EADT sometimes but it’s the reality. Three or four windows on and no doubt by the time the summer has drawn to a close we will be at GBP300M + spend since the first PL promotion. Next year is far from a free hit. [Post edited 16 May 4:58]
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| Sunderland recruitment this season on 06:36 - May 16 with 1356 views | mikeybloo88 |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 20:33 - May 15 by Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
Question for you, no slight on him, he’s come in and done very well but how many PL clubs would Walton start for?
You can’t go through a PL season with Christian Walton, you need to do what Sunderland/Forest done and find a top level keeper in Europe for under 10M. Not so you you’ve seen at Burnley. It’s sentimental FC again and we will get relegated. |
Sentimental FC....I like that. Looks like there’s still a number of our fans who have already forgotten that we struggled and only just scraped promotion from a decidedly average Championship. We’ll have to be much more ruthless in terms of personnel than we were last time to have any chance.. |  | | |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 06:36 - May 16 with 1356 views | PioneerBlue |
There are a few hits there and a few misses which is inevitable. Its been enough, this one doesnt look like the best business as is today out on loan but they will recover fees if loan to buy is triggered! He came with decent pedigree too.
Simon Adingra (€24.4M)
Shows how spending money well is hard, spending money isnt the problem as someone will always happily take £20m from you for bang average players. | |
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| Sunderland recruitment this season on 07:22 - May 16 with 1257 views | cressi |
Although Sunderland had a fantastic season the last few months they fell away badly. Its quite possible they have a second season like we did after finishing 5th.
Leeds looked quite strong last few weeks of the season. | | | |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 08:26 - May 16 with 1132 views | Churchman |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 20:33 - May 15 by Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
Question for you, no slight on him, he’s come in and done very well but how many PL clubs would Walton start for?
You can’t go through a PL season with Christian Walton, you need to do what Sunderland/Forest done and find a top level keeper in Europe for under 10M. Not so you you’ve seen at Burnley. It’s sentimental FC again and we will get relegated. |
I’ve no idea. But what I’ve seen of the Premier League, I’ve not seen anything exceptional in the goalkeeping department. Certainly live the Chelsea and Palace keepers looked no better.
I’m not saying Walton is the best I’ve ever seen. Just that he’s adequate, knows the club, his team mates and the way KM wants us to play. He didn’t offer too many mistakes last year and I think there are other priorities.
Let’s face it Southampton invested heavily in a top keeper and finished bottom by a country mile. | | | |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 08:47 - May 16 with 1029 views | Churchman |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 07:22 - May 16 by cressi |
Although Sunderland had a fantastic season the last few months they fell away badly. Its quite possible they have a second season like we did after finishing 5th.
Leeds looked quite strong last few weeks of the season. |
You are right. Sunderland fell away really badly and will need good recruitment and a lot of it again if they are not to be in trouble next year.
Are they ‘the blueprint’ or the exception that proves the rule? I’m inclined to think the latter. They have a good manager with contacts and must have a good scouting network. But did all their signings listed in this thread succeed? I don’t know but if anyone does I’d be interested to hear the answer.
I suspect there were some excellent, tolerable and duffers was the mix. The key I think was Xhaka, whoever was at central defence and Brobbey. The spine of the team.
I don’t think there is just one way to succeed and each club is different. Sentimentality doesn’t come into it. You either build on the best of what you have or tear it up and chuck mud at the wall. The latter can work and did for the Mackems. We did a poor imitation of that two seasons ago and it failed. 26 years ago Burley chose to enhance and it worked, but the PL is a very different beast now.
I guess that a compromise of the two, which is what I favour, could be seen as a cop out. But it isn’t. We genuinely have players who can compete at PL level in my view. Not all by any means, but we are in a stronger place than two years ago and have a base to work from. | | | |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 08:50 - May 16 with 1011 views | BloomBlue |
| Sunderland recruitment this season on 04:50 - May 16 by Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
I think a lot of fanbase were so success starved, they’ve understandably latched onto to a lot of the players of the last few seasons wherever we find ourselves. For good reason really, as they are absolute club legends because but the brutal reality is not many were anywhere near the top flight levels, which makes sense, many were signed in L1!
There was a lot said about why did we break up such a successful team, it really wasn’t that, it was that for the amount of spend we just didn’t do well enough with a lot of the replacements or squad build out overall IMO. Of course there were a few hits. Hearing the talksport interview about our model of British players last time was alarming to me but 18 months on the words this time sound like we have changed course somewhat, which is great. At the very least we need a mixture of both but I really think abroad is where the value is for top flight players.
BTW looking at every single player that’s moved on from 23/24 it’s hard to pick out any of them lighting it up with their new club. The double promotion team was riding a hell of a wave of momentum with one of the best managers in the game and we they took the champ by storm. Chaplins video today was a bit of an emotional watch but it almost drew a bit of a line under that era, which is a good thing. Still many are saying that we should stick with Walton and Palmer, sign Jens etc, I just don’t get it, it’s like they didn’t watch our season up there and have ignored how clubs succeeded last year.
Sunderland showed the blueprint, look and what they done with their promotion captain. It’s a ruthless league and to stand a chance we need to be ruthless. I’m not sure that really sits well with some of our fanbase or even local media when I listen to EADT sometimes but it’s the reality. Three or four windows on and no doubt by the time the summer has drawn to a close we will be at GBP300M + spend since the first PL promotion. Next year is far from a free hit. [Post edited 16 May 4:58]
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You say that but I think Brentford have shown the blueprint, they are an established PL team VIA not breaking up their squad.
The PL hasn't changed that much since they were promoted I would argue the quality has decreased.
Believe me Brentford fans were saying the same about many of their players not being good enough for the PL, but Thomas Frank proved those fans wrong. Sunderland have done well but only Wolves have scored less goals this season, even Burnley have scored the same as Sunderland and in the 2nd half of the season they're something like 3rd worse on goals conceded.
Obviously football is about opinions and we will have to see if Sunderland can establish themselves over the next couple of seasons. But based on facts the Brentford model has worked with retainig championship players and building over 5 years now. | | | |
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