As we approach the final two weeks of the summer transfer window amid what seems to be a consensus that Sunderland do still need to be active in order to retrofit their playing squad to meet the demands of the 2026/2027 campaign, I’m intrigued on two fronts.
First of all, I’ll be keeping a keen eye on whether we can add the quality and depth that’s most certainly needed in key positions. Also, and perhaps equally crucially, it’ll be fascinating to see if we can keep several of our most valuable players
in the fold for what promises to be a historic campaign.
Two lads in particular spring to mind here (and I’ve opted for Robin Roefs and Noah Sadiki), but in all honesty, there are several current Sunderland players that you could place in that bracket.
Roefs arrived on Wearside last summer as a highly rated if somewhat unknown quantity, in what turned out to be an absolute bargain transfer from NEC Nijmegen.
In the aftermath of Sunderland’s FA Cup victory over Everton and a succession of hugely impressive performances between the sticks during his maiden campaign in English football, I was absolutely convinced and had begun to accept that he would not be a Sunderland player for 2026/2027.
So far, though? Absolutely nothing in the way of rumours or reported interest in the towering Dutch stopper.
Massively heartening and I’d love to think I’ll be proven wrong and that we’ll get at least another season’s worth of top quality displays from the most talented Lads goalkeeper of his age since Thomas Sorensen.
Similarly, after establishing himself as one of the batteries in the red and white midfield, it felt like it was only a matter of time before Sadiki — the kind of midfielder that elite Premier League clubs usually sign without a second thought — would be playing his trade elsewhere this season. Surely he was just too good for rival recruitment teams and head coaches to ignore?
However, like Roefs, the likelihood of the DR Congo international remaining at the Stadium of Light and making the step up into the Europa League under the watchful eye of Régis Le Bris seems to be increasing — something about which everyone will doubtless feel excited.
Although it’s possible for nerves to be a little frayed and patience in short supply when it comes to Sunderland’s lack of incoming transfers, the fact remains that should we lose no key players before the window closes — a group into which you can place the likes of Brian Brobbey, Omar Alderete, Nordi Mukiele, Enzo Le Fée and Chris Rigg — it would be significant.
Keeping the core and the beating heart of this exciting squad together would at least mean that we don’t head into the 2026/2027 season in a weaker state, as well as dousing any external doubts about how much pull Sunderland AFC actually possesses, and that in itself is quite significant.
Now, I’m not naive or idealistic enough to suggest that these lads will be here forever — far from it, in fact.
Bizarrely left on the fringes by Ronald Koeman at the World Cup, it’s surely only a matter of time before Roefs, a genuine all-rounder of a goalkeeper and a player that took to English football with alarming ease in 2025/2026, displaces the erratic Bart Verbruggen as new Netherlands coach Xavi Hernandez’s number one.
Likewise, if Sadiki can be as influential for Sunderland as he was last season and during the summer for DR Congo, you’d have to assume that his value will continue to soar and any potential sale would be a red and white record-breaker; the kind of transfer that would redefine our own beliefs about what’s possible and would see headspinning numbers flashing across the yellow Sky Sports News ticker.
Under Kristjaan Speakman, Sunderland’s recruitment team established themselves as formidable operators when it came to potential outgoings, with players leaving for far heftier fees than that for which they were originally signed and the club holding as firmly as possible until the call was finally made. A hugely welcome and long overdue change of approach after years of ragbag, market stall-style business practices.
As the final knockings of the transfer window draw closer, Sunderland may well find themselves attempting to pull off a three-card trick: adding quality in key areas, ensuring that no key figures depart, and preserving the overall standard of quality, culture and mentality that’s defined this squad during the past year.
Florent Ghisolfi’s recent negotiations with Toulouse in order to attempt to secure the services of Dayann Méthalie felt like a game of eight-dimensional chess being played out in real time.
With that in mind, should we emerge from the transfer window objectively stronger and one hundred percent ready for a landmark season, you could say the former Roma supremo will have participated in and achieved a victory in a game of twelve-dimensional chess.
I feel it’s time to buckle up. It could be quite the ride over the next fortnight and it’s not going to be dull by any stretch of the imagination.
