He’s one of a handful of current Sunderland players that without whose contributions, we wouldn’t be a Premier League club, currently skippered by Granit Xhaka and planning for a second season of top flight football and a Europa League campaign to boot.
When Eliezer Mayenda reacted sharply to Milan van Ewijk’s woefully underhit backpass at the CBS Arena during a tense playoff semi-final first leg with Coventry City, he backed it up with the composure to round Ben Wilson and slot the ball home to give
us a crucial 1-2 lead.
Likewise, in the showpiece game against Sheffield United at Wembley, he was on hand to receive a slide-rule pass from Patrick Roberts which he duly dispatched for 1-1, setting up a grandstand finish for Tommy Watson and the most iconic Premier League promotion that many of us have ever experienced.
At the time, it felt like the world was the young Spaniard’s oyster.
Dynamic, powerful, lively and with plenty of room to improve, he seemed to fit the profile of a ‘player to watch’. He also felt like the kind of forward that would relish the challenge posed by the top flight, and a thumping header on the opening day against West Ham was the perfect introduction on a day when we served notice of our intentions.
However, Mayenda’s 2025/2026 campaign ultimately didn’t yield the amount of minutes or goals that he or anyone else would’ve doubtless hoped for as others edged ahead of him, and the latest rumour concerning his future hints at a move to Rennes on what would apparently be a permanent deal.
Of course, it would be easy to break down any potential Mayenda exit down thus: a nice chunky fee, a hefty sell-on clause and a suitable replacement brought to Wearside.
Bish, bash, bosh. We more than recoup our original outlay; we’re covered in case he gets a bigger-money move further down the road, and we don’t find ourselves short of quality forwards for the 2026/2027 campaign. Certainly possible, and I would have faith in the club’s capacity to tick those boxes.
And yet.
I can’t shake the feeling that allowing Mayenda to leave could represent something of a misstep and that at some point in the future, he may make a return to the English top flight with a rival team, complete with a more rounded game and the capacity to influence games to a greater degree than we’ve seen in the Premier League for Sunderland.
Should he move to Ligue 1, who’s to say that after a couple of hopefully productive seasons, a fellow Premier League side wouldn’t be eager to bring him back to the UK, confident that he would be better for the experience and ready to become a regular starter?
We’re often fond of discussing “players that got away” and missed opportunities when it comes to Sunderland — this could certainly be one of them, irrespective of how sweet a deal we could possibly cut.
Regardless of what comes next, Mayenda’s evolution from a raw and occasionally erratic forward that barely got a look in during a thoroughly unproductive loan spell at Hibernian to a lethal Championship-class striker was eye-catching in its speed and effectiveness.
He seemed to thrive under Régis Le Bris’ management during the promotion campaign of 2024/2025, bouncing back from setbacks with aplomb, and although I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the head coach’s trust in him seems to have waned, the form of Brian Brobbey and the usefulness of Wilson Isidor as an impact substitute have most certainly restricted his chances — not good for a young player still finding his way in the upper echelons of football.
On the other hand, situations such as this are simply unavoidable nowadays. Business versus in-house player development; individual game time versus the need for collective progress, and so on. I get it. It’s simply part of life in the big league.
Given the rate of progress we’ve seen at the Stadium of Light in recent times, Mayenda’s position is the embodiment of the tricky balancing act we have to strike, that of keeping the squad aligned and fit for purpose while ensuring that young and hugely exciting footballers don’t stagnate.
They’ll hopefully do right by themselves and the fans, but whatever comes next for Mayenda, they must do the right thing by him as well.
I’d love him to stay at the Stadium of Light and to play a part in our European adventure — during which minutes on the pitch might be easier to come by — but if we could ensure that the impact of his departure was minimised and steps taken to ensure we weren’t left feeling rueful if he moved to pastures new, so be it.
It feels like it’ll be one to watch. Let’s hope that if we do bid farewell to the Big Man, it doesn’t come back to haunt us at some stage in the future.
