THE EXPERT’S VIEW: SIMON ADINGRA

Another day, another new arrival… Simon Adingra this time from Brighton, so we caught up with our mates at Dogma Brighton to get the lowdown…

Simon Adingra came to Brighton from Danish side Nordsjælland after a successful loan at Union SG, where we've also just recently signed another winger from. What was the expectation for Adingra when he first joined Brighton?

Most fans probably viewed him as yet more meat for the Albion player development grist. Our recent success has been built on signing young players and developing them into superstars. So, there’s always that level of expectation when we make a ‘development signing’. But success breeds complacency and so we have grown to become somewhat disinterested when a young player arrives from somewhere like Denmark or Paraguay or Greece (or in Tom Watson’s case from the Championship). Some are great, some are not so good. But there’ll always be many more to follow.

Will he be missed by Brighton fans?

Missed in so much as he was involved in some nice moments in a Brighton shirt and scored some important goals (including a key goal in our Europa League campaign two seasons ago). But I can’t say he will be missed in terms of the quality and depth of our squad for next season.

Having been at Brighton for a few years and playing quite regularly, are you surprised he's came to a newly promoted club like Sunderland?

Not particularly. The financial dynamics of European football have created a highly distorted and unbalanced transfer market between clubs in the Premier League, and with the exception of a handful of outlier clubs, every other league in Europe. So, in that marketplace, (and I believe Brighton were actively trying to sell the player) who else is paying £21m for a Simon Adingra than a newly promoted (and newly minted) Premier League club?

What are your thoughts on the reported fee of €21 million, from a Brighton perspective are you happy with that or do you think you could have got more?

I guess if Burnley and Leeds had joined Sunderland in some sort of bidding war then the price might have been jacked up. But otherwise, it sort of seems about par.

What can we expect from him? He's only 23 but he already has experience in this division, can he push on further?

There are two schools of thought on this. In his first season for Brighton he was very good: a dynamic and dangerous attacker who clocked up some really great numbers. Goals and assists. This is the iteration of Simon who rightfully received the adoration for his role in Ivory Coast’s AFCON ’23 triumph. They were basically heading out of the tournament in the group stage until his reappearance from the treatment table as a late substitute in their final group game. He went on to claim Young Player of the Tournament, and man of the match in the final. If you are getting that Simon, yeah this could work out well for you. But since those heady AFCON days we have seen ever decreasing levels of output from Simon, and a fair number of injuries (which could explain the suboptimal performances). He was very poor last season, and I am saying that as someone who really loved him. If that’s the version of Simon you are getting then expect to be frustrated.

From what you've seen, is he good enough to help us achieve safety next season?

Can I be polite and say ‘yes hopefully’?

What are his weaknesses?

Sunderland fans who enjoy perpetuating clichéd regional stereotypes will enjoy his tackling; they will find it aligns beautifully with their preconceived ideas on the robustness of a craven and slight left-winger signed from Brighton. He also struggles with confidence. The only thing holding back the pre-AFCON version of Simon was his confidence or lack of when things weren’t going so well. The post-AFCON version… well let’s just say that confidence was one of a number of concerns.

What's his attitude like?

Excellent, based on all available evidence. He’s a good’un.