RELEGATED WISHLIST

The Premier League table doesn’t lie, if you’re in the bottom three after 38 games, you’ve probably been pretty pants all season and deserve your fate. That being said, it doesn’t necessarily mean that every player from those clubs deserves to spend the next year of their careers getting the stuffing kicked out of them by Millwall’s latest Eastern European roid-head, without so much as an advantage played by a power hungry VAR-unchained referee.

Relegated teams can be a treasure trove of bargain-bin talent, with many players desperate not to languish in the second division and settle for their measly new relegation clause induced salaries. Should Sunderland actually bother signing any of them though? With European football on the horizon we do need to bulk up the squad, but should we pivot from our latest recruitment strategy of signing Football Manager wonderkids and look a bit closer to home? Let's have a look at who actually is on offer.

BIG MONEY (UNLIKELY)

We’ll get some of the obvious ones out of the way. West Ham only went down on the final day of the season, and definitely have the most talented individuals from this seasons’ biggest losers list, so this list is going to be pretty heavy on the Hammers.

MATEUS FERNANDES (21) - EST. COST £60M

He was only signed last summer for a fee of around £40m and has been a standout player for West Ham all season - including scoring a worldie against us on a particularly dull away performance - so interest is high. Manchester United, City, Arsenal and PSG have all been linked with him already and it’s pretty nailed on that he’s going to be cashed in on pretty quickly to try and keep the club afloat. As much as I would love to have him, especially as a 21 year old with resale value, I think this one is a non-starter, he’ll surely be at a Champions League team by August.

JARROD BOWEN (29) - EST. COST £40M

I actually think Bowen might stay put and just stroll around the Championship like a prime Aiden McGeady in the third division. If the club do decide to put him on the market though, which isn’t too far beyond the realms of possibility considering their ownership, I don’t think he’ll be shy of suitors. He won’t come cheap and would likely want to stay in London, on pretty hefty wages, so this is another one that I just can’t even see a slight chance of happening. Obviously I would take him, he’s class, but I can see a desperate Spurs agreeing to pay a hugely inflated valuation.

TATY CASTELLANOS (27) - EST COST. £20M (RELEASE CLAUSE)

Now here is a man who surely negotiated a release clause after signing in January as a last hail Mary to try and save a sinking ship - he will 100% be on the move this summer. Again, I can see wages being a stumbling block for most sides where he’d actually be a guaranteed starter, but I wouldn’t write off one of the elite teams bringing him in as cover and to play in the cup games that they all whinge about. He had a decent scoring record in the Prem and clearly has quality, but I think he’s destined to have a 20-goal season on loan in Turkey and slowly fade into obscurity.

REALISTIC (ISH)

No real standouts there then, let’s take a look at some more realistic shouts.

DINOS MAVROPANOS (28) - EST. COST £15M

Potentially a surprise performer for West Ham this season, Dinos Mavropanos actually won their Player of the Year - ahead of the likes of aforementioned Bowen and Fernandes. We need defensive cover and this fella comes with Premier League and European experience, I think we could do a lot worse. The Visitors, Dortmund and Roma have all already been linked with him and I do think he would get minutes for us if we decided to bring him in to bolster our backline.

MAXIM ESTEVE (24) - EST. COST £25M (PLUS ADD ONS)

STEEEVE! Another centre back, this time from an even worse defence in Burnley, but this guy will be on the move this summer and could prove to be a very shrewd bit of business for someone. A 24 year old, left sided defender who was in the top 95% of defenders for defensive contributions in the Prem last season, probably on relatively reasonable wages and eager to play at the top level? As far as the model goes, I think this does actually fit the recent trend and would be worth a shout. Burnley reportedly want £50m for Big Steve, after significant interest from Tottenham, but I could see him forcing a move and going for much less than that. One to watch.

CRYSENCIO SUMMERVILLE (24) - EST. COST £25M

I’ve enjoyed watching Summerville every time I’ve seen him this season, he’s so positive (with surprisingly good defensive stats too) and was another standout player in a pretty poor West Ham team. We need to sign some wide players this summer; the Adingra move hasn’t quite worked for any party, Angulo will take a bit of time to adapt to the league and Talbi just isn’t consistent enough to nail down that starting spot yet. I think this one is worth a punt and has the potential to become a fan favourite at the SoL.

BARGAINS AND CURVEBALLS

Time for some curveballs, who could we look at that isn’t necessarily on the “Transfer Insiders” radar…

HUGO BUENO (23) - EST. COST £10M

When we played Wolves away this season the fans booed Rob Edwards for subbing this guy off and that stuck with me. He was causing us problems going forward, got the assist for their goal and looked like the only player on the pitch who could cross a ball that day. With Cirkin leaving on a free, we need some cover for the lovely sleeve-averse Reinildo, could this be our guy? He’ll be cheap and any fee Wolves get is virtually all profit, after signing him for around £3,000 as a 16 year old. Defensively I’m not convinced that he’s at the level we’d need, but as a wingback I actually think he could be very effective in a decent team.

SANTIAGO BUENO (27) - EST. COST £12M

The other Bueno. This guy won Wolves Player of the Season and was actually their joint top scorer, as a central defender. I think all of that says more about how awful Wolves were than how “bueno” Santiago is, but we know all too well that you see the true character of a player when the backs are against the wall in a relentless relegation battle. He seems popular with fans and has been praised for his leadership qualities, so again as depth at the back goes, we could do worse. Mosquera is maybe a more obvious choice, but this is the curveballs section…

JAIDON ANTHONY (26) - EST. COST £12M

I don’t want to see Le Fee or Hume on the wing ever again, so I was determined to find a decent option to negate that. I actually think this would be an initially underwhelming, but quietly effective signing, especially given his output (9G, 2A) in a shocking Burnley team this season. I think he could serve a similar role to Traore but on the left, making an impact off the bench and filling in when we want to rest some of the younger talents we’re trying to nurture and turn a profit on.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

TOMAS SOUCEK (31) - EST. COST £12M

I love this guy, I’m not quite sure why, but I’d love to see him in a Sunderland shirt before he retires. We do genuinely need quality cover for Xhaka and I think he’d provide that. Maybe an odd one, but I’ll stand by my Soucek supremacy.

ZIAN FLEMMING (27) - EST. COST £15M

I hate this guy, but I felt compelled to mention him due to his goalscoring record this season for Burnley being better than any of our current strikers. I don’t think we’ll have any interest in him and I hope we never do. I can see him being an absolute beast in the Champ for years to come though.

MALICK DIOUF (21) - EST. COST £30M

He’s raw, suspect defensively and would cost a decent amount, but there’s definitely a player there. Super positive going forward and full of energy, apparently Man U want him for around £30m, which would be a great move for him. We do need cover for Reinildo and maybe serving as his understudy would help him master the art of defending one on one, I wouldn’t be too mad at this one.

CONCLUSION

So, should we look at signing any of these Premier League outcasts? Probably not. Unless Bowen decides he’s so sick of Danny Dyer that he wants to relocate to the land of Danny Vlogs, I’m not sure if any of these are worth the inflated transfer fees and wages that we’d inevitably be stung with. If there is a deal to be done though, I do think a few of those listed above could come in and do a really good job under Le Bris.

I think experienced squad depth is actually going to be really important as we deal with the inevitable highs and lows of a 50+ game season, but it’s likely that better deals can be found elsewhere, with more experience of playing in European competitions. So maybe this whole thing was meaningless and I should have spent this time studying the defensive midfielders of the Belgian Pro League…