On this day, current Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs was born. He's been so good for us so far that there's genuinely a not-too-audacious claim that he's the best 'keeper in the Premier League. Born in Heeswijk, the Netherlands, in 2003, Roefs started out in football in the academy of his local team, VV Heeswijk, in 2009. He remained there for five years before moving 45 minutes up the road to join NEC Nijmegen, where he remained before coming to Wearside. During the 2021-22 season, despite...

Sunderland have completed their first signing of the January transfer window, bringing in 20-year-old right winger Jocelin Ta Bi from Israeli Premier League team Maccabi Netanya for a fee of £3.5 million on a four-and-a-half year deal, with a club option of an additional year.   Born in Abdijan, Ivory Coast, in 2005, Ta Bi began his career with JC Abdijan before moving to Israeli club Beitar Tubruk in 2023. A year later, he was picked up by Maccabi Netanya for €800k and within two months was...

Born on this day in 2002 in Massy, France is former Sunderland midfielder Pierre Ekwah. Ekwah made 61 appearances for the club in his two years, scoring five times. Ekwah began his career playing for several amateur sides in France. Starting at the age of seven he turned out for RC Arpajonnais until 2011, then Bretigny FCS until 2016 and finally CFF Paris for a year. His first professional club was Nantes, who he played youth football with for one season. During his time there he made his...