With the transfer window now shut and any more business having to now wait until New Year we thought we’d take a look at the new players who have joined us this summer. This is a long list so part two will follow, going into detail on our deadline day signings.
JOBE BELLINGHAM
A deal that had been in the works for a while before finally being completed this summer, the 17 year old was already well known to Sunderland fans due to his connections to Kristjaan Speakman and of course being the brother of England international Jude Bellingham - although everyone’s sick of hearing that I’m sure. Initially reported to be a £3 million fee for the attacking midfielder, in the end it turned out we paid half as much of that figure for his services to Birmingham City. He came into the club with 26 senior appearances for his previous club under his belt which is fantastic for someone of his age. Despite mockery from many (especially fans of Birmingham) that we’d only signed him for his family name, Jobe has made an instant impact at Sunderland. Featuring in all six of our games so far and scoring a brace against Rotherham to earn us our first win of the season. Mowbray has said he wants him to compete with Rigg and Dack for game time this season. So far Jobe's featured alongside Dack as makeshift centre forwards so far, although this has mostly been due to the fact we have only had one fit striker and Mowbray doesn’t believe Hemir is ready to start every game in the Championship and wants to integrate him gradually. As we’ve signed two more strikers and Hemir features more and more as the season goes on Bellingham is going to have prove why he should start over Dack and, as Rigg becomes more and more experienced and plays more, him as well. All three have had good starts so it may also be made as a tactical decision rather than form based or when Mowbray feels Dack’s experience will be necessary. Pritchard is also an option in attacking midfield but sadly I suspect he won’t be here come next season, so I think he’s largely going to make appearances off of the bench and won’t threaten the starts of Bellingham.
ELIEZER MAYENDA
A player that has unfortunately been forgotten about largely due to the drama of the transfer window and the beginning of the season, his first impression made as a Sunderland player was to immediately suffer an injury before he could make an impact. That’s a massive shame as we struggled with options in the striker department before deadline day. He definitely would have featured off the bench in the Championship by now and almost certainly would have started in the League Cup. There’s no point crying over spilt milk however and once he’s returned from injury he’s now going to compete with Burstow, Rusyn and Hemir in that centre forward role. Mayenda is probably going to find game time hard to come by during his first season on Wearside however, he’s going to have to regain his fitness and Mowbray has referred to the 18 year old as ‘just a boy’, so expect him to feature for our U21 team quite often. I don’t expect him to go out on loan because we need him for squad depth and as another option up front if someone has a dip in form. We paid around £700k for the Spaniard, signed from Sochaux (a club he played for 16 times, scoring once).
JENSON SEELT
Like Mayenda, he was injured early on in his Sunderland career. This was during the pre-season game against North Carolina. His role so far has been limited to being on the bench against Coventry and Southampton. The Dutchman is going to face a lot of competition to play at the back, with the favoured partnership of O’Nien and Ballard keeping two clean sheets in a row, Triantis being signed and Alese still to return from injury. Jenson has managed to now play for our U21s and his time will come when squad rotation becomes necessary and if/when injuries occur. The 20 year old was signed from PSV Eindhoven for a fee of around £1.7 million, Seelt featured 63 times and scored seven for PSV’s youth side and once for the senior team.
LUIS HEMIR
A signing that brought much excitement to Wearside because the Portuguese player was the first striker we’d signed on a permanent deal in what felt like forever. His performances in pre-season added to the optimism he carried with him, scoring several times. Hemir’s abilities in the air after latching onto crosses in particular was a welcome sight. Unfortunately the centre-forward hasn’t had the impact anyone would have liked, failing to score in the league so far. He has featured in all five of our Championship games so far, albeit only one of those games he started. The reasons for him not scoring have been a combination of lack of experience and us sometimes not playing to his strengths. He played well in that game against Southampton and we should be confident he will get off the mark, patience is needed with the 20 year old. Hemir will of course face more competition now for game time, with Rusyn and Burstow coming in and Mayenda will recover eventually. There is always the possibility we choose to play with more than one forward and because Hemir is our player and more experienced than Mayenda, he will probably be the second choice behind Rusyn for featuring. Signed from Benfica for a fee of around £525k, Luis scored twice in 21 appearances for their B team.
NECTARIOS TRIANTIS
Like Seelt, he’s probably a long term successor to Wright and Batth in the centre back role. A combination of injury luck and having more top level football played than Seelt has seen him already feature for Sunderland, only once however in the League Cup. It’s hard to read too much into that game as very few played well but it shows that he too is going to find it difficult to dislodge O’Nien and Ballard for league games. With Alese still to return from injury, Nectar is third choice at the moment but will most likely become fourth choice after that. Once again his time will come and it may not be this season, he has also featured for our U21s to gain some confidence/experience. We signed the Australian from Central Coast Mariners for a fee of around £200k, the 20 year old featured 26 times for the A-League side. Just a note as well that the order of preference between Seelt and Triantis could easily swap around and depend on who exactly we are playing.
BRADLEY DACK
A welcome signing because it showed that the model we operate under Speakman can (occasionally) be flexible. Ostensibly a Mowbray signing, he liked the player during his time at Blackburn, it shows that our head coach isn’t kept out of the transfer dealings at the club entirely. 29 years of age, 173 appearances and 57 goals for his last club, the attacking midfielder looks like a brilliant addition on a free transfer, bringing some much needed experience. That experience will help to guide our ever more youthful side this season, even if he doesn’t always play or start. This was demonstrated by the League Cup match where him coming on completely changed the game, his instructions to Jewison Bennette were particularly effective as well as being unlucky to not score a winner himself. Now he’s off the mark for us and should provide both necessary competition to Bellingham and Rigg and also guidance. Mowbray may have him as the number one choice in attacking midfield due to experience but Bellingham, and to some extent Rigg putting in some good performances, may threaten that.
NATHAN BISHOP
Backup goalkeeping signings aren’t always the most glamorous and will hardly drive season ticket sales but they are necessary additions, especially with Bass going out on loan to AFC Wimbledon. Bishop himself though doesn’t feel like the right choice in my opinion. We should have went in for a Dack-style player in this role. Someone with more experience wouldn’t have gone amiss. This is because Patterson himself is only still young and can sometimes make us squirm in our seats due to shakiness (Patterson is a very solid goalkeeper might I add and this is a sign of him still finding his feet rather than a dig at him - he’s doing this less and less as time goes on). Therefore it would have made sense to bring experience in rather than someone who’s never played any Championship football, to provide real competition for Patterson and give him pointers. Bishop has so far featured once in the League Cup. He was signed from Manchester United for around £300k and previously played 53 times for Mansfield during a loan spell, he is 23 years old.
Stay tuned for part two, where I will disect our deadline day incomings in a similar fashion to how I have here.
