John Wilson says…
Folks who are getting stressed or tetchy about an apparent lack of transfer activity, in my own humble opinion, just don’t get the positivity, the strong base and the long-term planning that our owner and directors have developed and put into place for this club — they deserve huge credit and support from the fan base.
I get that we all have different opinions and varied emotions when it comes to something like the transfer window, but for me it’s profoundly disrespectful to think that they don’t
know what they’re doing, that they’re going to let the club slide this coming season or that they aren’t working extremely hard (and probably have been for over a year) to identify and bring in the right players, and not just buy for the sake of it to keep the noisy minority quiet.
I’ve seen enough knee-jerk signings and misfits over the years to see out my life on this earth. I’m extremely confident in and proud of this current regime to do the right thing and to continue to steer this club in the right direction.
From where we’ve been for most of my life, this is all superb and dreamland territory — anyone who thinks they’re resting on their laurels and not following a well-structured plan needs to calm down and keep the faith.
Jon Guy says…
I think we’ll be late into the transfer market because of the level of players we’re targeting.
We’re after players that won’t be short of options and as such they, their agents and current clubs will be assessing which move is right for them, and player and club may have a different opinion. Also, the World Cup may have delayed matters or even changed the club’s thinking in terms of players.
I believe we need to trust in the management to have the process in place and that much is going on behind the scenes. I’m just looking forward to seeing the scarves being held up outside the Academy of Light in the coming weeks.
Malc Dugdale says…
Last season, this recruitment team managed to attract talent to the so-called relegation favourites, and ended up building a squad that earned a shot at European trophies.
They attracted the likes of Granit Xhaka, Nordi Mukiele and others, and did an amazing job. They now have the lure of the Europa League and will do even better given time.
I’m chilled. I trust those in the positions and am excited about what’s to come, but it’ll come.
Mark Roberts says…
The short answer is that I’m a little concerned.
This isn’t based in any way, shape or form of our club’s actions and the continuing stewardship of Kyril Louis-Dreyfus et al, as their pathway to our achievements gives them 99% of my trust.
We know time is ticking. Pre-season for the non-World Cup attendees is in full swing, and Chris Rigg and Enzo Le Fée look brilliant. I’m just a bit greedy. I want us to compete in all formats; I want a parade and I think we need another three.
If you can believe it, there are signings on the horizon but whatever you do; if you hear of a solid lead, keep it to yourself in a very much Machiavellian transfer window.
Trust in the project.
Mark Ryan says…
If I’m tetchy, it’s because I miss the dopamine rush of rumors and actual news.
Like me, a lot of Sunderland fans are junkies and if they don’t get their hits, they get angry. There’s also the years of mismanagement that have a lot of us paranoid and ready for things to go to crap.
There are two things inoculating me, and one is my research about last summer.
Habib Diarra, Noah Sadiki, Chemsdine Talbi and Reinildo came in a rush and then not a lot (Simon Adingra) happened. Granit Xhaka arrrived on July 28 and was announced on July 30. Eight more players were signed after that — three on deadline day.
Second, and probably most importantly, I trust Florent Ghisolfi, Régis Le Bris and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus to get the job done.
Matthew Donne says…
I definitely think patience is the key here and just because other clubs are making moves (Leeds United, etc) it doesn’t mean we need to knee-jerk.
We’re simply in a different position than we’ve arguably ever been in.
We don’t need wholesale changes but we need specific improvements and that kind of improvement isn’t fast, isn’t glamorous and takes time. If we jumped at strikers back in the Championship days, we’d have been overspending on what now appear to be duds (looking at you, Tom Cannon).
This group of directors deserve the ability to carry out business the way they do without a meltdown from fans. They’ve earned it.
Phil West says…
I must admit that I’ve been surprised by the lack of major transfer activity at Sunderland this summer.
In terms of outgoings, the departures of Dennis Cirkin and Eliezer Mayenda left us short on depth in key positions that’ll undoubtedly need to be addressed before the transfer window “SLAMS SHUT” (credit to Sky Sports News for that well-known line), and I’m hoping and praying that none of our frontline players are snapped up by rival clubs or European heavyweights when all is said and done.
Although we’re awaiting the returns of several of our leading lights following their World Cup exploits (and those lads are all absolute quality), the fact remains that we do need to see some meaningful transfer action soon, in my view — not least to give any new additions time to bed in, to get to know their teammates and to get attuned to Régis Le Bris’ style of play.
The squad is fundamentally strong. I don’t believe it’s currently at a level from which we can take confidence that the dual challenges of domestic and European football can be balanced successfully, but I do believe that Florent Ghisolfi and his team will deliver in time.
Left back (I’m hoping there’s some substance to Tuesday night’s rumour of a deal being cut for Dayann Methalie), central midfield, up front and the right wing are obvious positions of high priority — and that’s to say nothing of some of the outgoings that need to happen in order to refine the squad in order to handle the demands of what’ll be a landmark campaign.
Let’s put it this way: if Alan Browne, for example (as I’ve seen various people on social media suggesting in recent days) is anywhere near a Sunderland matchday squad this coming season, there’s been a glitch in the matrix at best and we’ve got it very wrong at worst. He’s a fine and vastly experienced Championship midfielder but the rate of evolution at Sunderland has been dramatic in recent times and those calls will ultimately have to be made.
No panic and no jangling nerves, but I do feel that we’re reaching a point where the pieces need to start moving around the chessboard and deals need to be struck. Let’s hope we don’t find ourselves checkmated in the midst of yet another window being driven by bidding wars, inflated fees and social media scraps between journalists.
Wadey says…
I’ve made no secret of preaching patience on these very pages and I’m still of the opinion that I trust the club hierarchy implicitly.
For me, “tetchy” doesn’t describe my current state of mind — “twitchy” might be more me.
In previous seasons over multiple regimes, there’s been a knee-jerk, scattergun approach to signings that I’m glad we’ve seen the back of. This more measured approach has paid off; some of the signings we saw last summer have been incredible buys, value has soared and they mostly can be described as huge successes both on and off the pitch.
The club deserves our patience; however, there’s a big “but” coming.
We all understand our current policy of flying under the radar and not shouting about potential signings before we have signatures on the dotted line, and we’re very much approaching August and the World Cup is over.
If the club had — as has been touted by themselves — a very measured approach all planned out, how come none of them have come to fruition yet? The amount of work that goes in to this is immense. I get that, but seeing a couple over the line would settle me down without doubt.
Will Patterson says…
I don’t realistically think there’s any need to be concerned just yet — we’re not shopping in the market for Elliot Anderson or Yan Diomande, where it’s a race to win a five-club bidding war.
If you look at the Thomas Meunier transfer, very little was spoken or heard about until around just before the deal was confirmed. This is exactly how the club should operate and unlike other teams, we’re not having to put things out on social media or via the press to calm the fanbase after loosing our best players.
There’s so much value to be had in the market, and we’ve just finished a World Cup where you wouldn’t expect to see a lot of deals being conducted.
Furthermore, we’re not in the same position we were last season.
We don’t need to increase the floor of the squad’s quality with a massive volume of new players. We need to bring in ceiling-raisers that can change a game or add in depth for positions where we all know it is needed.
We’ve been told it’ll be around six players that are coming in, and they will be focussed deals. My only slight concern is that with pre-season well underway, I’d want new signings to get as much time as possible under Régis Le Bris before the season starts.
The transfer window closes on 3 September — expect plenty of new faces to come in.
