Kristjaan Speakman has explained why Sunderland failed to bring in a proven striker during the summer.
During Red & White Army’s Q&A session on Wednesday, the sporting director was very open about the club’s failure to sign a Ross Stewart replacement.
Sunderland have struggled for striker options since Stewart suffered an Achilles injury at the start of the year, previously bringing in Joe Gelhardt on loan in the second half of last season.
Ross Stewart was sold to Southampton on transfer deadline day, after months of the Black Cats looking to bring in a new goalscorer. The Championship club eventually added Mason Burstow, Luis Hemir Semedo, Eliezer Mayenda and Nazariy Rusyn to their ranks, with the former two yet to score a senior goal in their career.
Sunderland had kept up with their transfer policy of bringing in young, exciting players, however fans were left very frustrated that they had made it yet another transfer window without bringing in a proven striker.
However, Speakman has suggested there was simply no chance of that happening. He has claimed there were very few Championship strikers around, while they would have had to pay ‘premium’ prices for those that were.
It is hard to agree with Kristjaan Speakman
There is no doubting that there are not many strikers that will get you double figures in the Championship. However, a lot of other teams managed it.
Josh Maja joined West Brom (free). Kevin Nisbet joined Millwall (£2m). Jerry Yates joined Swansea City (£2.4m). Ashley Barnes joined Norwich (free). Ellis Simms joined Coventry (£8m).
Sunderland had options early on, but were barely even linked with some of these names.
But if it was cash that was the problem, then does that mean we can expect to cough up the Ross Stewart fee on a new striker in January?
It is hard to believe that Sunderland actually tried for these proven goalscorers, but instead preferred to go for the younger options.