The summer transfer window is less than a week old but there has already been a flurry of business done around the Championship with over half of the division completing deals for new players.

Sunderland, however, are one of the nine clubs yet to complete any business, albeit the addition of experienced goalkeeper Simon Moore looks set to amend that statement over the coming days following their first piece of outgoing news with Alex Bass’ move to League Two and Notts County.

It’s in contrast to what we saw from Sunderland 12 months ago where, by this early stage in the summer, they had already completed three new signings in the shape of Australian Nectarios Triantis from Central Coast Mariners, Portuguese forward Luis Hemir from Benfica’s B team and prodigious young talent Jobe Bellingham from Birmingham City. They were soon joined by Dutch defender Jenson Seelt from PSV Eindhoven to round off the month of June as Sunderland made a proactive and efficient start to their summer business, at least in terms of numbers.

Sunderland would go on to complete 11 transfers across last summer’s transfer window but, as We Are Sunderland recently identified, that doesn’t always quantify success. The very nature of early transfer business, however, is something which appeases supporters routinely each year and is something Sunderland’s hierarchy are in need of as they continue to find themselves ensconced in a turbulent period.

Sunderland’s search for a new head coach has consumed the equivalent of a third of the year, with Michael Beale’s sacking coming four months ago. As consequence, the desire and focus on the club’s summer transfer strategy has almost fallen by the wayside until matters in the dugout are resolved.

 

READ MORE: 

 

Sunderland’s structure at boardroom level suggests that any lost time in not having a head coach in place after the transfer window has opened should not lead to any issues, given the club’s recruitment team, spearheaded by sporting director Kristjaan Speakman, have all been in place throughout the head coach process. That means any potential targets are likely to have already been identified, regardless of the name which is eventually placed above the door. Yet it does little to ease the now boiling tensions.

By bringing in new talent early in the transfer window it lends itself to the belief there is a plan in place and that the club have not used the end of season period as downtime, rather they have been active in their recruitment. Sunderland know all too well how standing still, or worse, in the Championship will likely see you revert backwards given what transpired last season, which is why there is an emphasis on this summer in particular.

But while there is always a thirst to see business done in the early stages of the transfer window, for Sunderland, the more important element is that the business is effective.

Although Adil Aouchiche and Seelt showed flashes of encouragement last season, there was only really Jobe who made any sort of impact of Sunderland’s 2023 summer recruitment drive – something the club can ill-afford this time around. While there is an acceptance a selection of last year’s business was done with an eye cast beyond the season in front of them, Sunderland will need to shift that approach this summer to introduce players, in certain areas of the field at least, who are equipped to make an instant impact in a promotion-chasing team.

Jobe Bellingham made the biggest impact of Sunderland's 11 summer signings in 2023Jobe Bellingham made the biggest impact of Sunderland's 11 summer signings in 2023 (Image: Ian Horrocks)

This summer marks the fourth summer transfer window Sunderland have had under the stewardship of Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Speakman, their seventh transfer window in total. And while it cannot be expected for each of those windows to be a success, the failings of the last two-to-three windows mean there is a little more pressure this time around.

So far, you could argue, Louis-Dreyfus and Speakman are about even when it comes to successful transfer windows across their tenure with the summers of 2021 and 2022 supplementing one of the club’s best most recent transfer windows in January 2022, followed by the not so successful windows of January 2023 and 2024 and last summer’s window.

But when looking at what constituted the success of some of their previous windows, the date of the club’s first signing does not necessarily correlate.

During the current regimes first transfer window three years ago, Alex Pritchard became the first notable signing on July 9. Pritchard was then quickly followed by Corry Evans and the loan signing of Callum Doyle in defence over the course of the next week – all three players playing a key role in the club’s promotion campaign that followed which demonstrates the need of effectiveness as opposed to efficiency. Dennis Cirkin, Niall Huggins and Nathan Broadhead would follow in August – Cirkin and Broadhead, in particular, also playing key roles that season.

In 2022, ahead of their return to the Championship, Sunderland’s first signing arrived on July 1 when Northern Ireland captain Dan Ballard completed a move from Arsenal. Although Ballard was joined by Leon Dajaku, who saw a his loan deal turn into a permanent move to the Stadium of Light, it wasn’t until the arrivals of Jack Clarke and Aji Alese over the next two weeks into mid-July where Sunderland really started progressing with their summer transfer window, with Ellis Simms joining on loan from Everton at the end of July.

Sunderland’s standout piece of transfer business in the summer of 2022 actually came in the final week of the window with the quadruple signings of Edouard Michut (loan), Abdoullah Ba, Jewison Bennette and Amad Diallo (loan). Of those four, Michut and Ba made notable contributions to Sunderland’s play-off campaign while Manchester United star Amad became one of the club’s great loan signings with 18 goal contributions in 42 total appearances.

Amad Diallo was a standout signing in Sunderland's summer 2022 recruitment driveAmad Diallo was a standout signing in Sunderland's summer 2022 recruitment drive (Image: PA)

But while those two summer windows can be regarded as big successes given they led to a promotion-winning campaign from League One and a top six finish in the Championship, it was the transfer window in-between which knitted the two together in January 2022.

Sunderland made six signings that month in Trai Hume, Danny Batth, Patrick Roberts, Clarke, Jay Matete and Jermain Defoe, with four of those becoming hugely influential. Hume is now regarded as one of Sunderland’s key players, with the Northern Irishman another who holds Premier League interest, while Batth became a stalwart of Sunderland’s defence in the Championship where he was named the club’s player of the year in 2023 before a surprise exit last summer.

 

READ MORE: 

 

Roberts became a huge coup for the club at League One level with the winger instrumental in Sunderland’s promotion having scored the goal which took them to Wembley in the play-off semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday while Clarke has established himself as one of the best players outside the top flight over the course of the last two-and-a-half-years since joining the club on loan and then returning on a permanent basis in the summer of 2022.

Although Defoe’s ‘Last Dance’ did not work out, there remained a sentimental value attached to his signing – one which galvanised the fanbase at a key period of the season having just days earlier been hammered 6-0 by Bolton Wanderers – while Matete has been unfortunate with injury in his time at the Stadium of Light.

It was a transfer window which equalled, or perhaps eclipsed, Sunderland’s January 2016 window under Sam Allardyce where the arrivals of Jan Kirchhoff, Wahbi Khazri and Lamine Kone became significant in guiding the club to Premier League safety over the course of the second half of the season.

What these successful transfer windows emphasise is just how important recruitment is, regardless of how early or late into a window signings are made. Equally, more often than not it is about quality rather than the quantity, as was the case last summer. That said, should Sunderland lose a number of their assets, with the likes of Clarke, Jobe, Chris Rigg and Dan Neil all linked with potential moves away, this summer’s recruitment drive may become something of a balancing act between the two when it comes to finding the requisite quality along with adding some much-needed depth to the squad.  

Sunderland have managed that before in their summer recruitment if you go back to 2018 following the club’s relegation from the Championship to League One. With the club undergoing a successful takeover from Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven at the end of the season, as well as Chris Coleman’s exit as manager, it was an important summer for the club to stake their claims at bouncing immediately back into the second tier.

Luke O'Nien was signed in the summer of 2018Luke O'Nien was signed in the summer of 2018

Jack Ross was appointed within three weeks of the end of the season before a complete revamp of the squad in order to challenge for promotion in League One saw 12 new players arrive at the Stadium of Light including the likes of Max Power, Chris Maguire, Tom Flanagan, Jon McLaughlin and current captain Luke O'Nien. Although history will dictate the 2018-19 campaign was a failure for Sunderland, Ross’ side lost just five league games that season – albeit they were condemned to the play-offs where they missed out on promotion to Charlton Athletic at Wembley.

Sunderland’s main issue now, however, is that matters elsewhere are threatening to impact their transfer dealings, even at this early stage. It’s just another reason as to why the head coach appointment is so key.