Calum Mills says…
The one player I can see being pinched is Noah Sadiki.
He’s every top four club’s dream central midfielder due to his engine, dynamism and tenacity.
There were strong comparisons to N’Golo Kante at the start of the season and I easily think he could surpass him as a player.
Whether it’s winning the ball high up the pitch, being an extra stubborn body in front of the back four or popping up on the left wing to help defend, he has a great reading of the game. If he’d scored a couple of his chances towards
the end of the season, I think his price tag would’ve gone up even further.
I really hope we keep hold of him, as he’ll be key in our Europa League adventure, and I also hope Sadiki’s performances and quick bedding into English football rub off on Habib Diarra, as I think those two could be interchangeable, given how long and tiring next season will be…
As with any other player on the pitch, I don’t have any fears or concerns about replacements as our recruitment has been superb in the last three windows. I don’t doubt for a second that Florent Ghisolfi and company have players lined up should we lose any of our starting eleven.
John Wilson says…
I’m actually not worried about losing any player during the close season.
I think they all bought into the project and the process, and that promise (however it was presented to them) has been fulfilled in spades. Not only did they join a Premier League side and easily survive, they also got into the Europa League. No one we signed can have a complaint about minutes on the pitch, or the joy and enthusiasm pouring down from the stands.
If their heads were ever going to be turned, it was by the lure of Europe — which we can now offer. Only an offer from a team in the Champions League can trump us, but they’d have to think about their chances of playing regular football for their new prospective club.
I’m confident that the vast majority of the squad are very happy and very excited about the upward movement of this club. If anyone were to leave, it simply tells me that they weren’t totally on board with our trajectory, or greed — in which case, thank you and goodbye.
Take Granit Xhaka.
Clubs should and could be hovering but does anyone believe he moved back to England only to move again after one brilliant season? It’s not going to happen, and I don’t sense that it’s going to happen for many of this squad. Even Régis Le Bris, who’s famously cagey, stated that eight or nine of the main squad will still be with us next season.
I can’t claim to know about everyone’s personal circumstances, so if I was to fear a hole left by a player leaving, it would be Nordi Mukiele.
What a Rolls Royce he is — “imperious”, I think is the word. And I single him out because I’m less convinced that he’ll stay compared to Xhaka, Enzo Le Fée or Robin Roefs. I think he’ll still be with us but if I was nervous about anyone’s intentions, it would be his.
Malc Dugdale says…
My biggest concern this summer is losing Enzo Le Fée. The bloke is amazing.
It’s a possibility, and it could represent a double whammy of both crucifying our 2026/2027 Premier League season and greatly dulling our first foray into Europe for over half a century — if it happens.
Yes, he has a long standing relationship with the gaffer, but as our RR podcasters have called out in recent offerings, he couldn’t get into the team at the start of last season, playing pre-season games last summer with what seemed to be the “second string”. How that happened, I can’t fathom.
He then got in the side mainly due to the need for left wing cover rather than winning his place in midfield. He excelled at everything he did though, and that’s massive in terms of performance for us but also shop window info to scouts — his data must be through the roof.
He had a stellar season despite that early out-of-position dilemma, and is up there for “player of the season” for me. But if a massive offer comes in, will that be enough for the club to say no?
Will Le Fée himself have the confidence that he can now expect to operate as that number ten both at Premier and Europa League level — or will he be worried that more signings are to come in and he may be dropped down the pecking order, once again having to prove his value over the season?
It’s all about his relationship with the club and the coach, the reassurance they are providing and his own feelings of being settled at our club — whether he’s wanting to continue on this journey for at least another season.
If we do lose him, I’d be very worried about the impact, and I know I’m not alone.
His skill and ability are second to very few, even at Europa League level. But he pairs that ability with work rate and an attitude that’s impeccable, too. He grafts his arse off for the fans, the badge and the gaffer and is so very very good at football.
Replacing him would be a massive challenge — no matter what number we get in terms of euros or pounds for him — and we would miss his creative and technical input as well as how he influences the wider team and orchestrates our strategy out on the paddock.
He’s one player that the very top teams in the Champions League may take a punt on, and if they do, the size of the number could be very hard to decline, so I’d like to see him sign a contract extension tomorrow, and for the lad to be given the free and flowing role he thrives in from day one next season.
He’s the sort of player you build a team around, and with European football at his feet, he could be worth even more in twelve months’ time after stunning the scouts looking into that new level of shop window around the corner.
Tom Albrighton says…
Maybe I’m cold-hearted, maybe I’m naive or maybe I’m both, but for me, the players I’d worry about leaving are pretty nailed on to stay at the club, therefore I have very few worries — if any at all.
The way I see it is pretty plain and simple.
We may lose players like Noah Sadiki or Robin Roefs, but given the way this club has recruited; the way we’ve managed to optimise value and minimise disruption as well as our ability to find gems from all four corners of the globe, there shouldn’t be a feeling that players are irreplaceable (with the only exception being Granit Xhaka).
They’ve earned our trust, tenfold.
I remember being here around twelve months ago, worried about what the future would look like without Jobe Bellingham. After all, we’d lost probably our most Premier League-ready player at that time. Instead, we went out and used a chunk of that money to fund the signings of Sadiki and Habib Diarra. Problem? What problem?
In the end, and when all is said and done, players will leave and it won’t always be the players we would be happy to see leave.
For Sunderland, this is inevitable — we understand where we sit in the footballing food chain and it’s the fact we’ve leant so heavily into that as to why we find ourselves looking forward to a European draw with Sunderland’s name in it.
We’ll buy, we’ll sell, and we’ll replace, and as the club have shown to a relentless degree in the last few years, we’ll continue to move forward.
