Sunderland fans will be very much aware that the congested winter months will be crucial to how their promotion prospects play out, with so much Championship football taking place across the rest of November and then December to come.
Up to this point, Regis Le Bris’ men have shown they are worthy promotion contenders – hence their current position right at the top of the second tier table – but no wins in their last three in the challenging league will already be making some Black Cats fans worried that they will inevitably slip off the summit.
Still, it’s been a fantastic start for the Wearside outfit, with some smart business in the summer helping them so far in being the early pace-setters.
The best summer business at Sunderland
Transfer activity in and out of the Stadium of Light over the off-season had the potential to derail the Black Cats, with the crushing blow of Jack Clarke leaving for Ipswich Town obviously hitting Sunderland hard.
The Mackems never outright replaced Clarke, but the Frenchman should be given credit for getting more out of Romaine Mundle down the left, who has filled the void of Clarke well with four goals fired home from 16 second-tier appearances.
He does almost feel like a new signing, considering he only joined at the start of 2024, but the likes of Wilson Isidor and Chris Mepham – who were purchases made by the former Lorient boss – have also settled in fantastically well.
Isidor has one more league goal next to his name than Mundle as Sunderland’s main leading man up top, whilst Mepham has been a defensive rock since also joining on loan from AFC Bournemouth, winning 5.4 duels per contest when playing for his new side in league action.
Sunderland haven’t always come away from a busy transfer window feeling pleased with their flurry of incomings, however, with their Premier League days full of notable expensive duds.
One sticks out, in particular…
Sunderland’s £10m nightmare
Now very much deep into the twilight years of his playing days at 36 years of age, Jeremain Lens will not recollect his time on Wearside with much fondness.
Costing £8m to get through the door in 2015 to link up with one of his former bosses Dick Advocaat, this would end up being a rather poor-fitting match, rather than a glorious reunion for both the winger and the Dutch manager.
Before making his move to England a reality, Lens was fresh off a fruitful spell playing in Ukraine with Dynamo Kyiv, with 16 goals and 19 assists across 78 contests.
In stark contrast, the right winger only lasted 24 games at the Stadium of Light before exiting for pastures new at Beskitas in 2018, draining Sunderland of a whole lot of money in the process.
Lens’ numbers at Sunderland | |
|---|---|
Stat | Lens |
Games played | 24 |
Goals scored | 4 |
Assists | 2 |
Transfer cost | £8m |
Wage | £40k-per-week |
Wage costs overall | £2m |
Sourced by Transfermarkt/Capology | |
Lens only registered a meagre four goals and two assists during his short but cursed stay at the then top-flight outfit, with his overall wage costs coming in at around £2m, when you take into account his only full season at the club.
His £40k-per-week wage also meant he raked in over two times more than what Jobe Bellingham earns right now for Sunderland, with the promising midfielder only on a reasonable £12.5k-per-week salary, despite bettering Lens’ goal output by five.
In total, on top of his now extortionate £8m price tag, the damage done to Sunderland’s back account off the back of the Dutchman underperforming was around the £10m mark.
This isn’t the only case where Sunderland dented their bank account rashly when in the big time, with lessons hopefully learnt now, as Le Bris and Co go about their business more shrewdly in their mission to leap back up to the Premier League.
Related
What Sunderland are doing to stop Jobe Bellingham leaving the club in 2025
He has been a key man in the early stages of the season, and they want to keep him.
