Sunderland signed a bunch of new strikers last summer, though they’ve had mixed results so far.
Last summer, and last month too, Sunderland desperately needed a new striker.
And keeping in line with their recruitment model, they signed a handful of players from Europe; Nazariy Rusyn arriving from Zorya in Ukraine and Luis Hemir from Benfica.
Mason Burstow also joined on loan from Chelsea, and between the three of them they’ve scored three Championship goals this season; two for Rusyn and one for Burstow.
Hemir though, despite having yet to score in the league for Sunderland, is catching the eye of fans after a couple of decent cameo appearances.
Phil Smith reveals why Luis Hemir isn’t starting for Sunderland
The 20-year-old Hemir has now featured 16 times in the Championship this season, with no goal contributions to his name.
Then after four games as an unused substitute, Hemir has featured off the bench in Sunderland’s last two outings, playing 20 minutes in the 2-1 defeat vs Swansea City last weekend.
Hemir hasn’t started a game since the opening day of the season, and discussing why that us, journalist Phil Smith said on The Roar Podcast:
“I did think Hemir looked bright [vs Swansea]…. The pleasing thing is he hasn’t necessarily had much in the way of sight of goal, but he has been a bit more involved with the team. He’s linked up a little bit better, played some nice lay-offs. So I think there are some good signs there.”
Added:
“If you speak to anyone really, whether it be Mowbray, Beale, Mike Dodds now, what they would all say is that Hemir’s a really good finisher, and they really think he’s got something that you could add to the team in the box, but at the moment, his game out of possession, the pressing, that side of the game is not quite at the level for him to start.”
Hemir is raw, but a star could be in the making
Hemir impressed in pre-season last summer.
He scored a couple of goals and fans thought they had a new gem on their hands, and then with Ross Stewart leaving, there was added pressure on Hemir to really step up and score the goals.
But it’s easy to forget just how big a step up it’s been for Hemir, who was playing for Benfica B last season.
And he’s still such a young player, so there’s going to be some bedding in time for the Portuguese forward, who has definitely shown glimpses of a player with huge potential.
In the final run-in, with Sunderland looking like they have less and less to play for now, Dodds might be inclined to give Hemir some more exposure and experience so that he can be more involved next season.
That, or Hemir could be loaned out to a League One or even League Two side to get him firing in the Football League; like Smith says, he looks like he can be a real threat in the box, but he needs to be mor e pressing and energetic in a likewise Sunderland side.
Sunderland travel to Norwich City in the Championship this weekend.