Aji Alese has had quite a strange time on Wearside.
We signed him for a reported £500,000 from West Ham in the summer of 2022, and although no one knew anything about him, I think we all had high hopes.
He’d made just four senior appearances before joining us, but the club saw his talent and during his first season here, he played twenty four times and scored his first and most recent goal for the Lads. It’s a goal that’s easily forgotten but one that I remember quite well — for reasons I’m unsure
of, to be honest, as he equalised away at Watford just before half-time.
His shot seemed to have been cleared but it had already crossed the line, leading to some delayed but equally joyous celebrations, and you may also remember Jewison Bennette scoring an excellent last-minute volley in that game to snatch a point.
That was only Alese’s second start during a season that gave the fans some hope of a positive future in red and white. Sadly, it didn’t get much better than that for Aji.
In 2023/2024, he would only play nine times as he suffered an astonishingly bad injury record and in 2024/2025, his injury troubles restricted him to a mere thirteen appearances.
It’s this horrendous run of injuries that curbed any hopes of a genuine legacy at Sunderland.
Since joining, he’s spent a total of 801 days out injured, missing around 107 games of football. That’s just over two full years of being sidelined and he’s also suffered seven established injuries — the longest being the most recent when in January 2025, we were defeated by Stoke City in the FA Cup.
That day, Alese was stretchered off in the 59th minute and replaced by Zak Johnson.
At the time, we had no idea of the extent of his injury but we were well aware of Alese’s fragility. I remember my Dad saying to me, “We won’t be seeing him for a while” and he was right, as Alese suffered a nasty leg break and sustained a hand injury, both of which required surgery and led to 325 days out injured.
Eleven months later, Alese has gradually been reintegrated to match play.
The now twenty-five-year-old defender has appeared twice for the U21s, filling one of the few “over-age” spaces you’re allowed. His playing time this season included forty five minutes against Newcastle in a 1-1 draw but during his time out, we’ve understandably moved onto bigger and better things.
Alese is definitely a talented player.
He’s tall, strong, fast and a good defender, but he just can’t stay fit. If he was able to avoid injury and develop further with the club through an established run of games (like Dennis Cirkin or Trai Hume), maybe he could’ve been an option this season, but he’s now levels behind and is no longer needed.
The club extended his contract in March 2024, keeping him on until the summer of next year on a reported £15,000 a week, but for me, we should be looking to move him on — not just for the club, but for him.
It never really worked out for him on Wearside, but we know he’s capable and that he could easily find his form and an extended run of first team football elsewhere.
I would be sad to see him go, but it would be the right thing to do.
He seems like a lovely lad who’s always supported the Foundation of Light and attended both academy and women’s games, so that’ll be a miss. But ultimately, it’ll sting knowing the potential he had and how it remained largely untapped during his time at Sunderland.
