A teasing Sunderland claim has emerged on the club’s plans for the remainder of the summer transfer window…
What’s the talk?
Black Cats chief Kristjaan Speakman has revealed that he is targeting several new signings before the end of the window to bolster Alex Neil’s squad.
The sporting director has also confirmed that he wants to bring in young players with the potential to improve as he has a long-term vision of where he wants the team to be.
When asked about how many signings the club want to make, he told Sky Sports: “There’s two or three positions on the pitch, two or three profiles, that we’d like to get in to balance the squad. We’ll see how that pans out over the next four weeks.”
Supporters will be excited
Black Cats supporters will be excited by this claim from Speakman because it shows that the club wants to sign promising players who have their best years ahead of them.
This means that Sunderland are unlikely to sign any journeymen with no potential to improve or resale value in the future.
How many signings do Sunderland need?
1-2
3+
Instead, it will hopefully leave Neil with a group of young and hungry players who are keen to make their mark on the Championship whilst developing as players.
This is an exciting prospect for fans as they can look forward to seeing players giving their all out on the pitch with a point to prove, which may not be the case with older signings who have proven themselves in the past.
Sunderland supporters have already been shown a glimpse of the benefits of this strategy with Daniel Ballard’s debut against Coventry on Sunday. The young centre-back – signed from Arsenal this summer – impressed as he made two clearances, one tackle and two interceptions in the 1-1 draw.
He looked up for the fight and showed character as Neil’s men picked up a draw on the opening weekend, whilst fellow new signing Jack Clark scored and Ellis Simms was named on the bench.
The Everton loanee, 21, scored five goals in 11 Premiership starts for Hull last term and ten goals in 19 League One starts for Blackpool the year before that. This shows that he is a young player with promise, as he has already shown quality early in his career, and fans will be looking forward to seeing him in action.
Imagine two or three more players like Ballard, Clarke, and Simms coming through the door before the window slams shut on September 1st. It is an exciting prospect for the rest of the window and supporters will now be keen to see who Speakman is able to bring in.
AND in other news, Sunderland “seem hopeful” of sealing major deal that’ll leave supporters buzzing…
