THOMAS MEUNIER: WHO ARE YOU?

It seems like Sunderland have finally gotten the ball rolling on the incoming front for the summer, with right-Back Thomas Meunier set to join the club on a free transfer. But what can fans expect from the Belgian?

At the age of 34, Meunier has a pretty decorated career, bringing plenty of European experience to the club. Having started his career Virton in Belgium, he moved to Club Brugge where he spent five seasons winning the Belgian Pro League and the Belgian Cup. Like current players Chemsdine Talbi and Noah Sadiki have already proved, Belgium football is a good place to develop as a young player and in Meunier’s case it gave him the platform to sign for Paris Saint Germain in 2016. Funnily enough Sunderland were also interested in him at the time, but ended up signing Donald Love instead…

As would be expected when playing for Les Parisians, his time at the club was littered with silverware, winning Ligue 1 three years off the trot between 2017-20 as well as the Coupe De France twice and the Coupe De la Ligue thrice. He played a role in their run to the Champions League final in the 2019/20 season however would miss the final as COVID delayed it till August and the full back had already completed a move to Borussia Dortmund after his contract ran out in June.

He never really got going at Dortmund though, playing less than 25 league games in every season before moving to Turkey with Trabzonspor in 2023. He played just 19 times, scoring once, before returning to French football with Lille, where he would line up alongside former Mackem Vito Mannone.

After helping them to 5th and 3rd place finishes respectively in the 24/25 and 25/26 seasons, as well as campaigns in the Champions League and Europa League, he left the club as a free agent at the end of last season which has seen Sunderland pounce on the chance to bring him in on a free.

This feels very much like the club’s alternative to Geertruida, with the £17 million buy option maybe seen as better spent elsewhere. Meunier is very much just a right back though, with a hand full of appearances as a wide midfielder. He doesn’t offer the versatility Lutsharel offered but maybe this would allow Mukiele to play centre back with Hume continuing as the right back option.

At 34 he is certainly in the latter stages of his playing career and feels a similar signing to that of Reinildo, bringing experience and European pedigree to the side. His name is not new to Sunderland fans, not just because of the links in 2016, but his rather bizarre tweet in 2019 asking if anybody had a stream for the Checkatrade Trophy final against Portsmouth. So, it's nice to see SAFC rewarding somebody who has been following us since the League One days. I would be pretty amazed if this does not play some part in his eventual announcement.

This signing certainly feels like a free hit for the club having paid nothing for him there is no risk and given the names of the clubs he played for, it is a no brainer. Hopefully this is where things begin to pick up on the transfer front this summer.