"I'm just buzzing I'm here. Finally, it's been a couple of years working on it in the background but finally I'm here and I'm really happy to get started."
They were the words of Callum Styles after completing his move to the Stadium of Light - an initial six months stay with the option of a permanent move should he impress in the red and white of Sunderland.
The Hungarian international was the Black Cats' third signing of the January transfer window after a delay in his move from Barnsley. A long-term target for the club, they finally got their man despite a scare the move might break down after Styles underwent an emergency operation on his appendix which delayed his move to the Stadium of Light.
"Callum is an interesting player, who has the ability to play on the left side of central midfield or slightly wider in a full back or wing back role, so we feel his quality and flexibility will be a real benefit to us throughout the remainder of the season," Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman said after the transfer window closed last week.
"Having reached an agreement in principle last week, we had an unavoidable delay due to Callum’s illness, but after reviewing his progress, we are now delighted that he’s here and we look forward to his imminent return to action.”
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The 23-year-old was initially tipped to fill Sunderland's void at left-back, after injuries to Aji Alese, Dennis Cirkin and Niall Huggins, but the arrival of Leo Hjelde has seemingly filled that void. The Norwegian has come out and said his preferred position is a centre-half, but will play anywhere for the team, including at left-back, as he did against Boro.
"We've had a big issue on the left side of defence," Michael Beale said when asked about what role he sees Styles playing prior to that game. "Trai has gone over there and Jenson has come in at right back and both of them have done really well, but you'd love to have balance. We had it for a period of time when Aji was back fit but then we lost it after a couple of games.
"Leo is an option for us and I feel that Callum can play either as a left-back or as a left-wing-back, and because he's used to playing in midfield he can move diagonally into there, which supports Jack [Clarke] who likes to stay wide. He can certainly play in a two or a three-man midfield on the left of it.
"He's a player I've actually followed for a while. I know the club have been interested for a while. He was one that once the club mentioned him I was really keen, and I actually met him 1-v-1 to speak about joining a previous club so I'm delighted to be working with him."
So what sort of role will Styles play at Sunderland? We Are Sunderland has taken a closer look at the new arrival to find out more.
Championship experience
A big part of Styles' move to the Stadium of Light is to play at the highest level possible and maintain his place in Hungary's national side.
"Callum expressed a desire to leave the club and play at a higher level in the second half of this season," Barnsley interim director of football Bobby Hassell said ahead of his Sunderland switch. "We respected Callum’s wishes, which we felt was beneficial for all parties as we look to push on and achieve our goals for this season at Barnsley.”
Styles was part of the Barnsley side that finished in the play-offs in the 2020/21 Championship campaign and has been a regular with the Tykes since singing from Bury in 2018.
He's amassed over 200 senior appearances - 220 to be precise - with the majority of those coming in the second tier of English football.
Styles spent the second-half of last season on loan with fellow Championship side Millwall, narrowly missing out on the play-offs again, before returning to Oakwell in the summer. He's been regular for the League One side out on that left-hand side of the pitch, as we can see from his heatmap below.
On the surface, the versatile midfielder may not appear as the 'number six' or holding midfielder Sunderland fans had have hoped for, but his ability to play as a left-wing-back adds another dimension to Beale's Black Cats.
At 5ft5, Styles does play in the heart of midfield when on international duty, but hasn't played in that role much domestically, prior to his move to Sunderland.
The head coach hinted they could shift to a back three with the right additions in the January transfer window, with Styles likely to fit in on that flank, unless there's a concerted effort to change his position.
Offensive play
Sunderland are already well stocked for wide attacking players, with Jack Clarke nailed on to start on the left flank given his impressive displays this season.
The addition of Romaine Mundle also adding further competition for places in that area, a clear sign of Sunderland's succession plans in preparing for life after Clarke.
Styles can play further forward and boasts a better pass completion rate further up the pitch than he does from a left-wing-back position.
He ranks 76th in League One for average passes-per-90 minutes this season, with 32.02 per-game, with an accuracy of 83.21 per cent.
In terms of ball progression, Styles averages four progressive passes-per-90 minutes, with an average progression of 86.18 metres, ranking 99th in League One. In terms of progressive runs, he ranks much higher up the charts.
With an average of 1.2 progressive runs per-game, Styles comes in 49th in League One, with an average progression of 39.04 metres.
"I've played a lot of games, scored some goals and I want more goals," he said. "That's what I need to add to my game and I want to add them this season and kick on. Over 200 games is a lot of experience."
However, he doesn't rank among League One's most efficient according to Wyscout's most recent report.
In terms of crosses, he completes an average of 0.63 per-90-minutes, across the 1,574 minutes completed so far for the Tykes in League One.
Defensive work
"I'll give 100 per cent every game and I'll bring quality to the team," Styles told the club in his first interview. "Obviously, it's a really young team with a lot of quality already and I'm looking to add to that.
"We need to push for promotion this year, last year we came up a little bit short but the lads did really well and hopefully, this year, we can get over the line."
In terms of defensive work and duels, that's where we see Styles on the higher end of statistics in League One. Despite being 5ft4, he ranks 22nd in League One for aerial duels won per-90, with an average of 4.52 - a success rate of 31.65 per cent.
Styles wins an average of 6.75 defensive duels per game with a success rate of 68.64, placing him 45th in League One. In terms of offensive duels, he comes in slightly lower in 48th place, with an average of 6.35 offensive duels per-90, with a success rate of 37.84 per cent.
Of those defensive duels lost, as we see in the image below, just one of those has lead to a goal, eight of those resulting in shots on goal.
Despite ranking quite highly in terms of aerial duels won, Styles has won just six of the 17 attempted in his own third, which may be an issue come set pieces at Sunderland.
On a final defensive note, he records an average of six recoveries per-90, with average counter pressing recoveries of 3.66 per-90. Tenacious and industrious across the pitch.
Overall verdict
The arrival of Styles is an interesting one and the stats don't necessarily nail down a position for the Hungarian international at Sunderland. It's clear his best work comes of the left-hand side of the pitch but there's plenty of competition out in that area of the pitch, and a need for improvement when it comes to output in the final third.
He's not likely to start ahead of Clarke in an advanced role given his output this season, with Mundle also able to play off the left-hand side, while Nazariy Rusyn has also been among the goals for the Under-21s in that role this season.
Good with the ball in tight areas and lively out of possession, Styles fit the bill for technical ability and offers plenty of energy, but doesn't appear to fill the holding midfield void that Sunderland desperately needed in the January transfer window.
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"We didn't go into the window searching for a number six," Speakman told We Are Sunderland. "I don't know whether that's an external thing that you're referencing there. From our perspective we're just trying to improve the group and ensure that we've got the versatility to play different shapes, different systems, different moments against different opposition.
"Callum is a player who's a little bit unique, a player of his calibre still playing in League One and there are a few factors that you could investigate around that, ultimately for us, he can play left-sided midfield, in a two or a three, he can play wider in wing-back and full-back. It does help us address that balance that we felt we needed in the window.
"He comes to us as a player with over 100 Championship games. In terms of understanding the league, he'll be able to come and adapt quickly with only 17 games left and I think that's really important. We felt that with both him and Leo they both understood what it was and could get away with joining without a pre-season."
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