OTD: ISIDOR BORN

On this day in 2000, current Sunderland striker Wilson Isidor was born in Rennes, France.

Isidor began his senior career playing for Rennes’ reserves in the French lower leagues before transferring to Monaco and being a bit part player for their senior squad in between loan spells in lesser divisions. His first real taste of top flight competitive football came in 2022 when he transferred to Lokomotiv Moscow, where he’d spend two years and net 19 times in 42 games. Zenit Saint Petersburg then came knocking and brought him on loan for the 2023/24 season, in which he helped them win a league title and Russian Cup. The next season he was brought in permanently and won a Russian Super Cup, made another five appearances (netting twice) prior to Regis Le Bris’ Sunderland signing him.

There was some doubt the transfer could actually go through, owing to restrictions on trade between Russia and the UK, owing to the former’s invasion of Ukraine, but after some accounting magic he was on Wearside and a Sunderland player initially on a loan deal. His loan was very successful, he found the back of the net nine times in 26 matches. Notable goals included a brilliant solo run to win us a game away to Hull City and a superb goal at home to Oxford United. He enjoyed a particularly fruitful spell between Boxing Day and mid-February, scoring seven and assisting one. The best remembered one of these was probably his brilliant throwing-off of the goalkeeper away to Middlesbrough, before calmly rolling the ball into the back of the net. We’d go on to win 3-2, our first win at Boro in what felt like forever and he comically grabbed their corner flag after the full time whistle, attached his shirt to to waved it around in front of the travelling support. A move which symbolised the end of any nonsense that Middlesbrough was a derby (it’s not for anyone still in doubt).

Naturally, due to his goalscoring prowess and the fact he was a striker (allegedly we’d been lacking those in the seasons prior) led to most of the fanbase demanding we tied him to a permanent contract. We had our wish on the first day of February and he became a Sunderland player again but a proper one this time. After this the goals began to dry up, the form began to dry up and some people believed he’d been playing out of his teeth to simply earn a new contract and then would live off of the hype. However, we entered the play-offs and Isidor contributed massively by scoring in the semi final first leg to put us ahead on the night and then we got promoted. So that concern dissipated quickly. With a summer of squad overhaul expected, how involved he would end up being in the Premier League was a subject of debate. Strikers are a very difficult position to sign for at a high level (as Kristjaan Speakman would happily tell everyone on Earth) so he made it to opening day and scored to wrap up an emphatic 3-0 win over West Ham United. 

Brian Brobbey was brought in and, for a while, he competed with him for a starting spot and was doing well. In the first few months of the season he also netted against Brentford (a late winner), Aston Villa (rescued us a point down to ten men) and away to Chelsea. That last goal was his last for a number of months as Brobbey usurped him and when he did play he wasn’t always that effective. There were some rumours he wanted away from the club but he did score twice in his final five matches so his stock rose a bit after that. Then he went to the World Cup (now registered for Haiti), scored in a pre-tournament friendly and then scored an absolute worldy against Morocco in the final group game, it was nominated for Goal of the Tournament, and Le Bris wanted him to stay. I think this desire for him to remain developed as a result of his uptick in form and the need for a deeper squad with Europe on its way, plus it’s hard to sign strikers especially with UEFA spending rules.

Regis seems to have won him over though, as at one point it seemed like he wanted to go elsewhere, at least at the time of writing. Hopefully, he elects to stay and he can kick on next season. I really want to see him score against them lot in particular.