Sunderland’s pre-season has been a mixed bag thus far

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As a ‘minutes in the legs’ exercise, a fact-finding mission for Régis Le Bris and of course, a tribute to a goalkeeper of outstanding longevity and supreme ability, Saturday’s trip to the Gorgie to take on an already up-to-speed Hearts in Craig Gordon’s testimonial was almost certainly worthwhile.

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Looking at it from a confidence-building perspective, a sluggish 3-0 loss at Tynecastle wasn’t the joyous return to UK shores that Sunderland would’ve wanted after an encouraging two-game swing in Portugal.

However, after a performance that was some way off the standards we’ll need to hit when the Premier League season kicks off, none of the Lads can be in any doubt that it needs to serve as a shot across the bows as this most interesting of pre-season campaigns continues to unfold.

All told, it’s been a mixed bag so far.

The customary games against Gateshead and South Shields went to plan; we were highly unfortunate not to see off Sevilla, and a 0-1 loss against what was essentially an all-star Sporting Lisbon side was by no means poor, so overall, it’s probably been an above-average campaign up to now.

Objectively speaking, Sunderland’s shortcomings are clear for all to see (something that I daresay many Premier League fanbases are currently discussing regarding their own squads) and it’s by no means a panicked reaction to a poor result to highlight it.

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Despite the ongoing ‘will he or won’t he?’ saga surrounding Granit Xhaka’s potential switch from Bayer Leverkusen, it’s vital that we don’t lose sight of the need for reinforcements in other areas — a need that was pressing even before we were well beaten by Derek McInnes’ side.

Towering Dutch centre back Jenson Seelt has looked lean, mean and keen this pre-season, but despite his undoubted potential after such a long injury layoff, it would be asking an awful lot to expect him to step up as a frontline defender for 2025/2026, and so a new central defensive partner — or partners — for Dan Ballard are a must.

Likewise, Niall Huggins’ comeback has been welcomed by all, but again, you would imagine that a Championship loan could be a more productive route back to regular first team football, and therefore a durable, aggressive and competent deputy for Trai Hume must surely be high on the list as well.

On the other hand, Enzo Le Fée has enjoyed a largely encouraging pre-season.

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Habib Diarra has caught the eye with some energetic performances in the middle; Simon Adingra’s pace and trickery will doubtless serve us well, and Chemsdine Talbi is clearly in the ‘finding his feet’ phase of his Sunderland career, but goals have been in short supply thus far, with Wilson Isidor a beat or two behind and Eliezer Mayenda not yet at his explosive best.

In terms of outgoings, some clarity on Pierre Ekwah’s drawn-out transfer to St Etienne would be useful, and what of the likes of Timothée Pembélé, Nazariy Rusyn, Abdoullah Ba, Hemir, Nectar Triantis, Ian Poveda, and Milan Aleksić?

Few, if any of them can be considered genuine candidates for Premier League football, and so in order to balance the squad and provide them with opportunities for regular first team minutes, moves — whether loans or permanent switches — should hopefully be rubber stamped sooner rather than later.

It’s abundantly clear and no cause for alarm that the squad still requires some fettling ahead of the curtain-raiser, and nobody should be in any doubt about the scale of the challenge we face as a newly-promoted side.

The humorous tweets about European pushes and the like have been entertaining this summer, but when it comes down to the serious business, everyone understands the objective: survive, and lay down the foundations for what’ll hopefully be an extended stay in the top flight.

As a baseline figure, I hoped that 80% of the squad would be nailed down by the time West Ham arrive on Wearside on August 16.

Whether that’s a realistic prospect is up for debate, but given the need for a fast start and to get points on the board early on, it feels like a good bet that there’ll be a determination within the Stadium of Light boardroom to move into the ‘fast lane’ of recruitment over the next two weeks.

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