OTD: NOAH SADIKI SIGNED
- BY BEN HARDIE
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Current Sunderland midfielder Noah Sadiki was signed on this day in 2025. Sadiki joined for a fee of £17.5 million and has proven to be one of our key players.
Born in Brussels, Belgium, in 2004, Noah Sadiki is of Congolese descent and represents DR Congo at an international level. Between under-18 and under-20 levels he was registered to play for Belgium and picked up a number of youth caps for them until switching allegiance to play for DR Congo’s under-21 team. At the time of writing, he has picked up 23 caps for the Central African country.
At a club level, Sadiki joined Anderlecht’s youth academy in 2011 and made his senior debut for them on the final day of the 2021/22 campaign, coming off the bench in the last few minutes in a 1-1 draw with Club Brugge. The following season, he played for both the senior team and for Anderlecht’s reserve side, who featured in the Belgian second tier. Overall, he turned out 18 times for the first team and on 14 occasions for the reserves. The main highlight would definitely be him getting onto the pitch to play eventual Europa Conference League winners West Ham United in the group stage of the competition.
In July 2023, the midfielder left Anderlecht and transferred to fellow Pro League side Union Saint-Gilloise for a fee of €1.4 million and immediately became a regular name on the team sheet. He managed 53 games in all competitions, including matches in both the Europa League and Conference League, playing twice against Liverpool in the former of those. Saint-Gilloise finished runners-up in the league but they did manage to win their first Belgian Cup in 110 years. During their run to the final, Noah featured in every round bar the semi-final and appeared off of the bench as his club defeated Antwerp 1-0 to lift the cup.
The 2024/25 season saw his first career goals, the first of which was the third in a 4-0 victory over KRC Genk in a league fixture. In 55 matches total, he scored twice and assisted eight times, which is a personal record for most number of games played in a season and most number of goal contributions. He also won the Belgian Super Cup but, more notably, he helped Les Unionistes be crowned champions of Belgium for the first time since 1935.
In July 2025, SAFC completed the signing of Noah Sadiki on a five-year deal, following on from our promotion to the Premier League. Upon completing his move to the club he said this: “I want to thank everyone for welcoming me to Sunderland. This is a huge Club, but what convinced me was speaking to the people. They spoke about the history, what they want to build, and their belief in the part that I can play. I will bring duels, forward runs, passion, and track back. Above all else, I want to win – and I carry this desire with me every time I step onto the field. This is my team now, and I’m really happy with my decision.”
Since joining Sunderland, Noah has been a near constant on the teamsheet. He played 35 matches in all competitions. Sadiki didn't look out of place against Champions League opposition, he played a crucial role in games against Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle United, and has helped us claim points against established top flight clubs on a number of occasions. As this is being written, Sadiki is currently at the World Cup, hopefully we can keep him for next season as a player with his work ethic and energy will be highly useful with the additional strains of European football.
