Is it all over?
Is a player who scored an array of sublime goals en-route to promotion and appeared to have thrown himself wholeheartedly into life on Wearside before kicking off the 2025/2026 season in encouraging form edging ever closer to the Stadium of Light exit — or is there some form of redemption arc within reach as Sunderland attempt to end the campaign in positive fashion?
As the Lads sought to chase the game at 0-1 down against Brighton on Saturday, Régis Le Bris’ decision to bring Dennis
Cirkin into the fray for Chemsdine Talbi raised eyebrows and felt far more significant than your classic left-field, “Let’s try something a little bit different at this stage of the game”-type substitution.
Wilson Isidor was on the bench and presumably primed and ready, but that’s where he stayed as we slumped to defeat with Le Bris subsequently opting for Eliezer Mayenda when Brian Brobbey exited late on. Once again, the decisions didn’t pay off, we didn’t find the breakthrough and Sunderland were left to rue another game that got away from them.
It was desperate stuff for Isidor; a far cry from those memorable times he often enjoyed following his arrival in the summer of 2024, and a sad turn of events for a player whose talent is substantial but — as Le Bris himself revealed ahead of Saturday’s game — has struggled with form and fitness as well as the intensity of the Premier League.
Isidor’s Sunderland story is one of the more interesting of recent times.
He gave me a great deal of enjoyment as we gained promotion back to the Premier League and after announcing his arrival with goals in each of our first three home games, it felt as though he was another Championship signing who had the capacity to make an impact in the top flight.
Quite what (if anything) has gone on behind the scenes — either in his personal life, regarding his physical state or on the training ground — remains a mystery but it’s hard to overlook, as well as being concerning.
The bigger picture here concerns what happens if and when Brobbey is unavailable, and of course, only a fool would deny that the drop off from the former Ajax striker to the mercurial Isidor and the talented-yet-raw Mayenda is significant.
The Dutch striker’s unique blend of skill and strength — of which he showed flashes as he marked his return from injury against the Seagulls — is fundamental to how we play and ahead of 2026/2027, I do feel there’s an argument in favour of adding a genuine, Dominic Calvert-Lewin-style poacher to the ranks; someone who can ghost in, catch defences unawares and grab goals from very little.
However, that’s a discussion that’ll undoubtedly dominate the agenda in the summer but here and now, with the season still very much alive and plenty to play for, it’s going to require a significant effort from all concerned to break the current cycle.
Open-play goals for Sunderland are currently rarer than competent Jarred Gillett refereeing displays, with a single non-set piece strike registered in our last eight games, and questions of service from the wings are never far away, but the strikers themselves have as big a role to play in terms of their application as they do when it comes to finishing the chances that may come their way.
Despite rumours linking Isidor with a move away from Wearside in January, I did feel — and to a point, I still do — that keeping him in the fold was the right thing to do, but after displays against Leeds and Port Vale during which he looked worryingly downcast, it feels as though something is amiss, and it’s a problem we could really do without.
His lack of game time could easily be frustrating but he owes it to himself, the fans and Le Bris to embrace that challenge and try to regain the credit that’s seemingly been lost.
Competition either spurs a footballer on or saps them of motivation, rendering them little more than a bit-part player who merely goes through the motions and hopes nobody really notices. I sincerely hope that Isidor isn’t in that headspace at this stage and if he is, he needs to try and emerge from it pronto.
Sunderland presented Isidor with an opportunity back in 2024, snapping him up from Zenit St. Petersburg and giving his talent a bigger stage on which to thrive. He’s currently going through the toughest period of his time and red and white and I hope it doesn’t signal the beginning of what could be a long, distracting and potentially painful parting of the ways.
Nobody should wish for that. Let’s hope the situation is recoverable.
