DEADLINE DAY ROUNDUP
- BY BEN HARDIE
- 16 hours ago
- 4 min read
Sunderland completed the signings of three players on deadline day, a centre back, winger and a striker.
KEVIN DANSO
The first through the door was 27-year-old Austrian centre back Kevin Danso. Born in Voitsberg, Austria, he moved to England at an early age and began his football career in the academies of Reading and Milton Keynes Dons before moving to Augsburg in Germany. During his time with Augsburg, he had loan spells with Southampton and Fortuna Dusseldorf before moving permanently to Lens in 2021. After three years with RCL, he joined Tottenham Hotspur on an initial loan deal before becoming a permanent feature in 2025. Danso joins SAFC on loan but we have an obligation to buy should we avoid relegation for a reported fee of £22 million. Danso has 36 caps for Austria and represented them at the 2024 Euros and 2026 World Cup. He has experience at the top level in Germany, France and England and also has played in both the Champions League and Europa League, winning the latter in 2025 with Tottenham. Kevin will compete with the likes of Dan Ballard, Luke O’Nien, Nordi Mukiele and Omar Alderete for game time and will probably be used more extensively in the cup matches and EL rather than in the league. However it’s always possible he impresses and ends up usurping Ballard as the strongman at the back, he’s less of a ball player than Mukiele or Alderete is so it would be difficult to see him getting ahead of those two in the starting XI. He’s also a better backup than O’Nien as well, so he improves the overall squad regardless of where he is in the pecking order.
MALICK FOFANA
Our most notable signing this window for two reasons. One, he’s really quite good, having been sought out by the likes of Arsenal, and if it wasn’t for a knee injury last season he wouldn’t have been coming here. Two, the whole saga between us and Crystal Palace for his signature. The deal was hijacked back and forth so many times and there was a lot of conflicting information throughout the day and into the night. However, we got our man and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus went to great lengths to ensure that we did (a la Granit Xhaka), and hopefully he’ll be as good for us as he has been for Lyon.
Fofana was born in Aalst, Belgium, and has been capped for his country five times now, scoring once. He broke through into senior football with Gent, playing 64 times, netting five and assisting five goals across two seasons. Lyon snapped him up in January 2024 and his first two seasons saw him contribute 15 goals and five assists in 63 matches. Unfortunately, last season he was limited to just 16 appearances, two goals and an assist due to the aforementioned injury but he’s already come roaring back this season, netting twice already in his first six matches. Malick features mostly on the left wing but has been known to play on the right as well. It can be reasonably surmised he’ll be ahead of Nilson Angulo, Romaine Mundle and Chemsdine Talbi on the left hand side (it looks like Simon Adingra is going to be loaned to Ajax). Talbi is a tricky one because he’s clearly the best out of Fofana’s competitors but whether Regis Le Bris fancies him is another matter. If he is going to be used on the right (Le Bris will probably experiment with this at some point) and assuming he’s effective he’ll most likely end up being first choice on that side instead due to our dearth of players who naturally play there. Saying that though, we do have Jocelin Ta Bi, Chris Rigg and now Juan Angulo (although Ta Bi and Juan may be sent out on loan) as natural right wingers. None are really experienced at this level is the main issue but Rigg would be the best candidate. Chemsdine and Nilson can both play on the right as well, the former largely proving ineffective in that role will also play a part in the decision making. Persisting with Hume is always something that could be done if we can’t identify someone in the squad who is suitable on the right and Habib Diarra looked decent playing in that role against Fulham. Whatever happens, he’s a very exciting young player and will likely do us a lot of good, plus he has experience in UEFA competitions.
JUAN ANGULO
We now have two Angulos, following in the Sunderland tradition of having players with the same surname, think Gray, Jones, Hume and (nearly) Talbi and Ta Bi. He primarily plays as a centre forward but, as mentioned, can also play on the right wing. Born in San Lorenzo Canton, Ecuador, in 2008, he’s in the very early stages of his career, recently coming through the academy of Independiente del Valle. So far, he’s played on 23 occasions for the senior team, scoring seven and assisting three. Juan has also earned game time in the Copa Libertadores (the South American equivalent of the Champions League). At 6 '4, he’s been compared to Erling Haaland but his own brother has said he doesn’t like to head the ball and he’s being monitored by top clubs around Europe too, namely Barcelona and Manchester United. He joins for £5 million and there are rumours we are going to immediately loan him to someone in Brazil. If he does end up staying, he’ll be our third choice striker or just another candidate for right winger. He’ll probably only feature sporadically for now if he doesn’t go on loan.
