OTD: TALBI SIGNS
- BY BEN THIRKELL
- 7 days ago
- 2 min read
On this day in 2025, Chemsdine Talbi arrived from Club Brugge for a reported £16.5 million.
Talbi started his career with Club Brugge's reserve side, Club NXT which play in the Challenger Pro League. He made his debut against Standard Liege's B team 'SL16'. He made a great start, scoring at the age of 17.
In early 2023, Talbi began getting the opportunity to train with Brugge's first team due to his good form and would make his first team debut in March of that year as a second-half substitute against KV Kortrijk. After being a bit part player with very little involvement in the 22/23 and 23/24 season Chemsdine had a real breakout season in 2024/25.
He made his Champions League debut against Borussia Dortmund in a 3-0 defeat for Club Brugge. That would not be the last of Talbi in Europe that year though, bagging a brace against Atalanta in the second leg of the knockout play-off round. He picked up player of the match in the game, which set up a round of 16 tie with Aston Villa, however the Villians would win 6-1 on aggregate.
He finished the campaign on six goals in 43 games across all competitions with Sunderland swooping in to bring the Moroccan to Wearside to add to our winger options going into our first Premier League campaign since 2016/17.
Talbi was given a starting place for our opening game, that 3-0 win against West Ham, featuring out wide with Simon Adingra on the opposite flank. His work rate and tenacity made him popular, even if the end product wasn't always there. Throughout the course of the season Talbi found himseld coming in and out of the team, struggling to really nail down a position but looking much more dangerous on the left than the right, where he can cut inside and create chances.
Already, the Moroccan international has made a name for himself as a big-name player who pops up with important goals. He found the net four times in his debut seacon and they were all memorable. He scored the winner against Stamford Bridge in the dying seconds, a really famous victory away from home. A long-range equaliser against Liverpool, a deflected effort which earned us a valuable point (and we could have won that game on another day). Burnley at home was a 3-0 win but Talbi's goal was the pick of the bunch, picking the ball up on the left before driving inside and curling a worldie into the far top corner. The there's Newcastle away - reacting quickest from a set piece to tap in the equaliser, setting the game up perfectly for a late Brobbey winner!
On the international stage, Chemsdine is also making himself known. Morocco are recognised as the winners of AFCON 2026, despite losing the final to Habib Diarra's Senegal (did they swap medals back on Wearside?). Currently, the Atlas Lions have reached the World Cup quarter-finals and are set to play France later tonight, with our winger proving to be an effective impact sub. Talbi and Xhaka are the two Sunderland players remaining in the tournament. Good luck, lads!
