So, it’s almost official.
The lad that hates Sam Fender and plays up front for Sunderland is on his way out, and what an impact he’s had in the three seasons he has been with us. Eliezer Mayenda arrived from Sochaux for 1 million pounds in the ill-fated 2023/2024 season, where Kristjaan Speakman and company doubled down on their ‘youth first’ recruitment policy.
Ironically, in a squad full of kids and with no first team striker who was capable of regularly finding the back of the net, an eighteen-year-old
Mayenda would get next to no minutes other than a few promising cameos from the bench.
After an underwhelming loan spell with Hibernian during the rest of the 2023/2024 season, where he would only make four appearances, he came back with a point to prove. A new manager meant new opportunities; Régis Le Bris put his faith in Mayenda from the start, and he didn’t disappoint, with a brace against Sheffield Wednesday in the first home game of the season.
Many more memorable moments followed, and it wasn’t long before a viral chant about his dislike of a certain Geordie musician echoed around the Stadium of Light and away ends across the country.
That’s one reason his departure carries a real tinge of sadness: we’re not only losing a much-loved player — we’re losing an iconic chant, too. When a player with a great chant leaves, it feels as though something is lost from the terraces as well.
So many of the special moments we associate with Mayenda come from his connection with the fanbase and the memories tied to that song: parading around the Stadium of Light in Ray-Bans after the win over Coventry, conducting the crowd and throwing his arms up with the Roker End then doing the same after the playoff final, with a sea of red and white moving in unison.
Those scenes showed just how strong his bond with the supporters had become.
There’s also a collection of important goals that Mayenda has scored, and one that sticks in my mind is the goal against Sheffield United on New Year’s Day.
Coming off the back of a hectic Christmas period, Mayenda had come under scrutiny for missing two sitters in the previous week, but after a defensive mistake presented him with a golden opportunity, he sat the goalkeeper down and slotted it away and set us on our way to a crucial three points — a testament to his character and his mentality.
He has a thing for scoring against teams from Sheffield and would go on to do so again when he bagged an emphatic equaliser as we beat Sheffield Utd in the playoff final. After a nine-year wait, we finally saw the return of Premier League football to the Stadium of Light, and it was poetic that Mayenda broke the deadlock against West Ham on sixty minutes to help us to our first Premier League win in a decade.
This deal does show what the club is trying to achieve.
Rightly or wrongly, Mayenda has been limited to just eight Premier League appearances, scoring two goals, so it makes sense for both parties to move on as we look to tackle SCR and PSR spending restrictions as well as building a squad that’s able to compete successfully on multiple fronts this season.
The club will be getting significant profit from Mayenda’s departure, with a fee in the region of £22 million. This is a deal that’s too good to turn down from a financial point of view.
At a football club, players come and go, but very few leave with as strong a connection with the fanbase as Mayenda’s.
So, thank you and good luck to Eliezer Mayenda, who’ll always be the man that hates Sam Fender and plays up front for Sunderland.
