With Dan Neil gone, the Sunderland bench will look very short of midfielders come the Burnley game. So given the lack of options available to Régis Le Bris in order to change a game or cover injuries, do we need to bring in another midfielder during the transfer window?
You could argue that we were already light, as with the greatest respect, it was always unlikely that Le Bris would turn to Neil as a solution. Instead, Lutsharel Geertruida was often the one called from the bench, whereas Chris Rigg
was obviously seen as the long-term project and given minutes.
I like Geertruida. It’s mightily impressive that for a defender, he does a job in midfield, but he’s a stopgap. I ALSO see what the club is trying to do with Rigg by bringing him along slowly, but he’s not the finished article.
An outsider might feel we’re well covered in midfield.
We managed without Habib Diarra and Noah Sadiki but in response, I suggest we got lucky. Enzo Le Fée has played in most games and Sadiki and Granit Xhaka have played in them all. If we’d lost Le Fée or Xhaka during AFCON — with the greatest respect to Rigg and Geertruida — we would’ve been in serious trouble.
We’ve now lost Xhaka for an uncertain period and his first game out didn’t go well. Many factors contributed to the defeat at West Ham but the loss of Xhaka was certainly one of them. Can we do without him for any extended period of time? Possibly, but at this point, we don’t know — and there’s also the longer term to consider.
There’s no doubt that Xhaka was an exceptional signing, both for his ability and leadership, but in September, he turns thirty four and there aren’t many outfield players at or over that age in the Premier League.
James Milner still gets some minutes at forty years old), whilst Danny Welbeck (thirty four) and Idrissa Gueye (thirty six) both feature regularly, with Welbeck featuring in all matches this season but only around 60% as a starter.
Xhaka consistently covers over 10km per game, putting him among the top performers on that metric in the Premier League, yet the questions that should be asked when he returns from injury are: Can he realistically keep that up for the rest of the season? His form has been exceptional so far, but what if it drops off?
I suggest that it isn’t reasonable to expect Xhaka to play every game next season, so it might be wise to bed in a replacement now.
I’m also convinced that Xhaka was offered more than just a player’s contract to uproot his family and head for the North East — possibly some some sort of coaching role or even a “long-term grooming for manager” sweetener. If so, he might be reasonably happy to be less involved on the pitch.
What if we were to lose one of our other key midfielders for a significant period?
If we lost Le Fée, Sadiki or Diarra, it would be a blow, but if Xhaka remains the main man, we’d have three to cover two slots and Geertruida and Rigg at a push. So, barring a disaster and losing two midfielders at the same time, we should OK.
Even with Neil gone, the only realistic reason I can see for the club to bring in a midfielder this window is a future Xhaka replacement — but I have my doubts over whether such a player is available in the January transfer window.
Some might suggest we need a top-class midfielder on the bench now in order to give Le Bris more options or that we need to kick on to grab a place in Europe, but I don’t subscribe to that.
We need to remember where we’ve come from, as a newly-promoted team with almost an entirely new first eleven.
Call me a conservative (small c), but unless there’s a medium-term Xhaka replacement out there, I’m happy to consolidate and go again in the summer transfer window, when there’ll be lots to do in midfield. We might lose players but we’ll definitely need more options, and there’s a backup option for Xhaka to find.
