When you consider the sort of transfer fees flying around elsewhere, Championship challengers Sunderland appear to have got themselves a couple of bonafide bargains.
In Chris Mepham, the Black Cats snapped up a proven second-tier operator – and one-time promotion winner – on loan.
Sunderland could yet secure his services on a permanent basis with Mepham, who once cost Bournemouth a cool £12 million, potentially leaving The Cherries on a free in 2025.
And then there is Wilson Isidor.
A striker who has hit the ground running in the Championship since arriving on loan from Zenit St Petersburg, and who could yet set Sunderland back just £3.5 million if – or more likely ‘when’ – the Wearsiders opt to tie him down for the long-term.
David Jones, the Sky Sports presenter who also works as a non-executive director at the Stadium of Light, credits Regis Le Bris for masterminding the deal to bring Isidor in from Russian football.
A footballer few Championship clubs may have considered or even been aware of in the first place – Isidor scored only four goals in 26 Zenit games – arriving alongside a coach who knew him well from his time in charge of Rennes’ youth side.
Dave Jones credits Regis Le Bris with Sunderland’s Wilson Isidor deal
“[The striker spot] is the hardest position, I think to recruit for,” Jones tells the Not The Top 20 podcast, highlighting the fees recently splashed out on the likes of Tom Cannon [£7 million] and Liam Delap [£15 million].
“That’s a really hard thing [to try and sign] especially when you’re on a budget, when you’re focusing on players of a certain age bracket as well.
“You have to be more creative. You have to widen your net.
“I think Regis has helped us open our eyes up to different kinds of market and knows players we weren’t familiar with from his background in French youth football.
“That helped lead us to WIlson’s door.
“Wilson is an interesting one because, when you’re doing recruitment, you’re not only trying to sign a really good player,” Jones adds. “You’re also trying to sign really good people.
“I think he has just surprised everyone with the character he is and how much he has bought into Sunderland, not just as a club. He’s been a brilliant, infectious personality.”
Isidor may perhaps be a scorer of great goals rather than a ‘great goalscorer’ – most his five Championship strikes have been bonafide Goal of the Season contenders – but the Frenchman brings far to the Stadium of Light than his finishing skills.
Regis Le Bris loves Isidor’s work-rate, movement and threat in transitions. Ex-Sunderland defender Danny Collins labells Isidor ‘a nightmare’ for opposition centre-halves.
Jones, meanwhile, admits that the 24-year-old may be more comfortable drifting in off the left in a manner reminiscent of French footballing legend Thierry Henry.
Isidor is not the kind of character to throw his toys out of the pram when asked to perform different duties, however, and he has embraced the number nine role from the off.
Isidor and Chris Mepham have been outstanding additions
“I think, naturally, he would want to play off the left, Thierry Henry-style. But he came into a team with Jack Clarke and then Romain Mundle,” Jones adds.
“I think we have found that has been in the middle of the pitch. He really aids the team in terms of counter-attacks, he wants to shoot from everywhere. I’d like to probably see him focus his shooting in more obvious goalscoring situations, as an XG nerd!
“He’s been a really good acquisition. These players are really hard to find but sometimes you need a little bit of luck.”
If Sunderland are reaping the rewards of the risk they took on Isidor, then Chris Mepham was far more of a safe bet. The Black Cats have seven clean sheets in his 13 Championship starts thus far.
The Welsh international, who Jones labels Sunderland’s ‘best defender’, will be absent for next weekend’s visit of Stoke City however.
Mepham was sent off against Sheffield United in controversial circumstances in the first-half of Friday’s 1-0 loss.
“[Mepham] has a calming influence on everyone else around him,” Jones claims. “He’s been a sensational signing Chris Mepham, he really has, and his level of performance has been extraordinary every single week.”
“We look forward to having him back in the team.”