Former Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman is headed to F.C. Copenhagen, and the club wouldn’t have reached its current heights without him.
Among the 57 players signed during his four-and-a-half years in charge, some weren’t just hits; they transformed the club.
10. (tie) Eliezer Mayenda and Wilson Isidor
After a constant struggle up top since the start of Ross Stewart’s injury woes, Sunderland finally found a pair of answers in Mayenda and Isidor. Mayenda, signed from FC Sochaux in 2023 for €800,000, and Isidor, signed initially
on loan and then for €6.0 million from Zenit St. Petersburg, combined for 22 goals, including one each in the first semi-final against Coventry City. Mayenda also scored the opener in the final.
The duo scored two of Sunderland’s three goals in the Premier League opening victory over West Ham.
Both have been rumoured to leave Sunderland this summer. If they do, they go with 31 goals, eight assists and a host of memories made.
9. Dennis Cirkin
Signed as a 19-year-old from Tottenham for an undisclosed fee, Cirkin was a constant at left-back – except for all the times he was hurt. Cirkin would almost certainly be higher up this list without his injury issues, if he hadn’t been lost without bringing in a fee.
That said, 126 matches is the fourth-most played by anyone signed under the Speakman regime, and eight goals and seven assists were a nice contribution.
8. Amad Diallo
They say never fall in love with a loan player, but Sunderland fans fell hard for Amad and are still pining for the Ivorian two years later.
One of the most purely talented players ever in a Sunderland shirt, his 14 goals and 4 assists – plus an exciting partnership with Patrick Roberts – delighted fans and helped pull an ahead-of-schedule squad to the Championship play-offs.
7. Ross Stewart
The Loch Ness Drogba came from Ross County for only €338,000 in January 2021, Speakman’s first window in charge.
After a pedestrian half-season, Steward exploded for 26 goals and five assists in 53 matches, including a promotion-sealing tally at Wembley.
Injuries limited Stewart to 15 matches — in which he still scored 11 times — the next season and a half before his January 2023 sale to Southampton for €9.3 million.
6. Jobe Bellingham
Speakman leveraged his previous relationship with the Bellingham family at Birmingham City to sign the younger brother for €1.75 million in 2023.
Just 17 when he signed, Jobe started right away for the Black Cats. Often playing out of position up front, he scored seven goals in that first year. In his second year, he contributed four goals and three assists to the promotion-winning side.
Perhaps his greatest contribution, though, was the €30.5 million earned from his sale to Dortmund, which made much of last summer’s spending spree possible.
4. (tie) Patrick Roberts and Jack Clarke
A pair of depreciated assets – Clarke’s loan was his fourth after Tottenham bought him for £11 million, and Roberts had just finished his eighth loan in nine seasons – signed five days apart and will forever be linked by THAT goal at Sheffield Wednesday in the 2022 play-offs.
The duo patrolled the Black Cats’ wings together for two-and-a-half years before Clarke was sold to Ipswich for €17.7 million. Roberts was sold to Birmingham City for €5.1 million in January after a successful half-season loan.
Clarke scored 28 goals and added 23 assists, while Roberts chipped in with 9 goals and 18 assists.
3. Enzo Le Fee
Arguably the most technically proficient player the club has ever had – and Speakman got him while Sunderland were in the Championship.
His prior relationship with Régis Le Bris from their time at Lorient was obviously a factor, but the fact Speakman and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus had to convince a Serie A player to give a team in fourth place in England’s second division a chance borders on miraculous.
Eight goals and nine assists – including one of the most important in club history – in 58 matches only hints at his impact.
2. Dan Ballard
Say less.
1. Trai Hume
Hume gets the top spot over his countryman because he’s been with the club since League One, played 52 more matches, and it cost a mere €240,000 to get him from Linfield.
Bone-crunching tackles – see Ben Brereton Díaz – are his calling card, but the right-back has chipped in with 10 assists and eight goals, including the opener in the Europa League-clinching win over Chelsea in May.
Who do you think was the best signing of the Speakman era?
