Kristjaan Speakman has given an honest assessment of Sunderland's transfer business this summer. In an interview with The Athletic he's discussed Amad Diallo, moving players on and the importance of long-term planning.
AMAD LOVED IT
“I’m so happy Amad sat in here at the end of the season with me and Tony and had a vibrant smile on his face. He loved it. Naturally, that’s what we want."
RETURN UNLIKELY
“Can Amad return to Sunderland? I don’t think so. He should be playing in tier one, in England, La Liga, Bundesliga, wherever. That’s the level of player he is. The staff here, the players and supporters have helped him get back on that journey and hopefully that will attract more players to want to come to Sunderland.”
SIGNINGS COMING IN
“We’re trying to be planned. Some of the signings this summer have not been easy to make. You have to be extremely well-organised to convince players that this is the place to come. The summer signings are four years-plus, three have signed for five years. You’re asking for a huge commitment both ways."
AMBITION
“The danger is that when anyone talks about long term, it’s a paradox with ambition. Our ambition is always to put out the strongest team in any given season, but we understand this season is part of a tranche of seasons. We’re not going to discount any season in that process, but the question around whether the club is ‘having a go’, is it ambitious, we can’t just look at transfer expenditure. We believe that having a go is having a clear strategy, really good recruitment and coaching – and our net transfer expenditure has been high, third or fourth in the division last season.”
SELLING PLAYERS
“When we eventually sell a player who’s come, improved and moved on, I understand that will have huge implications for the club. It could be next week, it could be next year. We think we know where value is in the market and we think we know our players’ value. I’m looking forward to adding that conundrum to Sunderland.”
STEWART LATEST
“The situation is no different to where we have been. We are really keen to retain Ross and everything from his camp is that he’d like to stay. But we haven’t got to an agreement that both parties would like to sign off. Externally that can seem strange, but we don’t think it is – Dennis Cirkin re-signed (last month) and we have been speaking to him about his contract for maybe six months.”
