Well, it’s that time again — stick your yellow ties on, hoy Sky Sports News on the telly and cancel every single meeting in your work calendar, because it’s transfer deadline day in England.
Sunderland are set for a busy day with many players set to leave, and plenty of room left for incomings should Kyril fancy emptying his bank account one or two more times after a busy summer.
For once I’m actually looking forward to seeing how it all transpires, and given the busy summer we’ve had already, you
wouldn’t bet against today being batshit mental as the 7pm cut-off point approaches.
We still need a defender, a centre forward, and if I’m being greedy, I’d like to see another winger come in too. Then there’s the outgoings, of which you could make a realistic case for 16 or 17 different players going out of the door.
There was the curveball yesterday with the news that Chelsea are set to recall Marc Guiu, news that was offset by a late night Fabrizio Romano tweet regarding Ajax striker Brian Brobbey, and also rumours that Paddy Roberts is wanted by Derby. Ahmed Abdullahi’s move to Angers is all but done (and I’m presuming the only thing holding that back is the Marc Guiu situation).
We’ve got loads of young players who need games and minutes and will only get those elsewhere, and then there’s the bomb squad – if we’re lucky, we might be able to get rid of some of them once and for all.
For those that don’t plan on moving very far from the TV remote today, I think we’re going to have plenty of stuff to talk about!
Isn’t this a lovely position to be in, though? Back in the Premier League, already having done the bulk of our business, now able to just add a few bits of quality here and there to an already brilliant squad. I’m absolutely brimming with enthusiasm about this team, and the prospect of fine-tuning it today is salivating.
If in the unlikely case that we didn’t sign another player today I wouldn’t be too worried. The squad as it stands is already very good, and it can’t be forgotten just how many signings we’ve already made. We’re now a well-run football club, and that means we aren’t panicking too much at this stage of the window – we’re in full control of our own destiny, it seems. It feels like today will mostly be about fine tuning the side that we’ve already got as opposed to worrying about it being significantly weakened with no prospect of improving it, and that’s about as good a position as you can be in.
What’s the priority in terms of incomings, then? I’d be shocked if we didn’t all agree that we’d like to see a really high-quality central defender come in, as well as a replacement for the outgoing Guiu. As we mentioned before it looks like Guiu is going back to Chelsea, and I still think that if we’re being honest it would be nice to have a proven, more experienced option in our ranks too to help push the lads we’ve already got. Brian Brobbey — an absolute stalwart of the game at the grand old age of 23 — could well be that man. Formerly of RB Leipzig, Brobbey has international caps for the Netherlands and has been a regular for a good few years now in Amsterdam, so it may be tricky trying to get him out of there, but it’s a deal I’m sure we wouldn’t have heard much about if the club didn’t think they could get something done. One to look out for as today progesses, for sure.
We’ve already got plenty of good options at the back, but we’ve been teased all summer with the potential signing of Jhon Lucumi, and there’s still been no official word that it’s not happening, so there’s still a chance… though rumours were swirling last night about the potential of RB Leipzig defender Lutsharel Geertruida flying into the north east from the Netherlands, but whether there was much truth in that remains to be seen.
The thing with the club now though is that it wouldn’t shock you if a completely new name came out of the blue and we signed someone that has never been linked yet with a move to Wearside. I’m fairly certain that we’ll have a plan b all the way through to a plan z for if we can’t make the Lucumi deal happen, so let’s wait and see.
I’d also really like to see another wide player come in. It cannot be forgotten that we were millimetres away from dropping over €20m on Armand Lauriente earlier in the summer, and the only reason that didn’t happen was because of a failed medical. Since then we’ve barely been linked to another wide player, and you’ve got to think that the desire from the football club to bring another good player in to add some competition is still there.
Are there any surprises in store? Again, it wouldn’t shock you. Both in terms of incomings and outgoings — you wouldn’t actually be surprised if someone came in for one of our fringe players that is still considered a vital first team player, like Dan Neil for instance, who hasn’t played a minute in the Premier League yet and still hasn’t signed a new contract.
Let’s wait and see – there are plenty of twists and turns left and I for one am looking forward to seeing what gets done between now and tonight.
Sit back, hold tight, and enjoy the show!
