On the evidence of the season’s opening weeks, Sunderland might have made a pretty good call when accepting a deal which could see the Black Cats enjoy £6 million windfall later down the line.
After securing another home win at the start of October, Derby County defender Kane Wilson highlighted Sunderland’s ‘amazing’ midfield as a key difference between the two sides.
Jobe Bellingham had opened the scoring for Regis Le Bris’ high-flying side that night with a thumping drive from long range.
And, as Wilson Isidor netted a second to send Sunderland top of the table, neutral observers could have been forgiven for assuming Bellingham, Dan Neil and Chris Rigg had been playing together for years.
If the baby-faced trio can dominate Championship opposition at this stage – Neil the oldest of the three at 22 – then how good can they really become when experience is added to that youthful exuberance? A tantalising thought, indeed.
As such, the departure of Pierre Ekwah has not hit the Wearsiders anywhere near as hard as some may have feared.
Pierre Ekwah explains why he left Sunderland for St Etienne
One of the Black Cats’ stand-out performers during 2023/24, former France Under 20 international Ekwah returned across the Channel on the final day of the summer transfer window.
Ekwah left Sunderland for St Etienne on a deal that could become permanent to the tune of around £6 million later down the line.
As Sunderland now go from strength-to-strength without him, and with Ekwah relishing the chance to represent one of the most historic institutions of French football, this is shaping up to be one of those moves that works out well for all involved.
“Why Saint-Etienne? Because it’s Saint-Etienne! A legendary club,” Ekwah a press conference when asked why he opted to join a club who had secured promotion back to Ligue 1 a few months earlier.
“I had good discussions with the coach and the sporting director before signing. It reinforced my idea of coming to Les Verts.”
St Etienne may have fallen on hard times of late but, with ten top-flight titles, only Paris Saint-Germain have secured French football’s greatest prize.
Ekwah left his homeland to join Chelsea’s academy back in 2018, meanwhile. And the midfielder obviously felt as if he had unfinished business on French soil.
“I wanted to discover Ligue 1 and France at a professional level because I only stayed one season at Nantes,” Ekwah explains. “I left for England quite young.”
Regis Le Bris was confident Black Cats can cope without Ekwah
While an 8-0 thumping by OGC Nice may have clouded Ekwah’s Ligue 1 return, St Etienne have bounced back impressively from their heaviest defeat in 73 years.
Les Verts secured a 2-2 draw with Ekwah’s former employers Nantes before defeating Auxerre 3-1 last time out, moving up to 13th place in the table as a result.
Le Bris, meanwhile, felt that Ekwah was a player in need of a ‘new challenge’ and a change of scenery when the former West Ham United youngster informed Sunderland of his desire to take up that St Etienne chance nearly two months ago.
“He needs something new. Pierre needs to see something a bit different. I think Pierre is a boy who needs a new challenge,” the former Lorient and Rennes coach told reporters.
“He’s a gifted player with a lot of qualities, but he needs an exciting challenge to motivate him and keep him going.
“Here, at Sunderland, we have quite a few players available in midfield. In itself, we didn’t have an urgent need to have Pierre with us. He felt he needed a new environment to continue to develop, and so did we. His loan actually makes sense.”