Sunderland enjoyed a fruitful deadline day this summer.
Sunderland were quite quiet in the summer transfer window this year. Up until deadline day that was.
The Black Cats ended the summer with four new signings on deadline day, taking their total summer haul up to nine players.
Kristjaan Speakman is rightly earning praise for the work he did during the summer months and now manager Regis Le Bris is reaping the rewards.
Though huge credit is going to Le Bris for the way he’s transformed the style of play, mostly with the same set of players that struggled so much last time round.
Sunderland fans are still waiting to see their deadline day signings in action.
Chris Mepham is tipped to feature vs Plymouth Argyle this weekend, whereas Salis Abdul Samed is injured.
Milan Aleksic could come into the fold very soon, whilst Le Bris says Ahmed Abdullahi needs time to get into the rhythm at Sunderland.
Sunderland deadline day target David Datro Fofana seals AEK Athens loan move
Although Sunderland signed four new players on deadline day, they also appeared to miss out on a few targets too.
The Black Cats were linked with a number of players who ultimately didn’t make the move to the Stadium of Light, with one being David Datro Fofana.
Sunderland were linked with a loan move for Fofana at Chelsea. But the 21-year-old stayed in London.
He’s since sealed a loan move to Greek outfit AEK Athens, per Fabrizio Romano, and AEK have a stunning £20million option to buy the striker who Chelsea signed from Molde for £10million in 2022.
Sunderland may have missed a trick not signing David Datro Fofana
Even though Sunderland signed a couple of new strikers this summer, in Abdullahi and Wilson Isidor, they didn’t sign a striker with a track record in English football.
And whilst Fofana doesn’t have a whole lot of experience in England, he does have some; the Ivorian international scored four in 15 Premier League games on loan at Burnley last time round.
That’s a decent return for someone so inexperience and playing in a poor Burnley side.
And this £20million buy option shows how highly-rated he is at Chelsea.
If Sunderland had signed Fofana, it could’ve been a season-defining signing for the Black Cats, but they still have plenty of firepower nonetheless.
Sunderland’s next fixture is against Plymouth Argyle this weekend.