Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus will soon come up against what may be his toughest assignment yet.
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus continues to keep Sunderland on an upwards trajectory following his instalment as chairman in early 2021.
He’s guided the club out of League One, to a Championship play-off finish, and following last season’s blip, the Black Cats are now in 1st place of the Championship table.
Regis Le Bris is the man in charge. He’s so far proving to be a strong appointment after an uncertain summer, in which Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman faced criticism.
Not only is Le Bris proving popular, but the bulk of Speakman’s signings are too, with Louis-Dreyfus’ investments proving smart once again.
The club did lose Jack Clarke to Ipswich Town, claiming an initial £13.5million for the player who scored 15 goals in the Championship last season.
January is fast approaching now. For Louis-Dreyfus, it’ll be another challenging month; one full of prosperity and potential pitfalls.
January transfer window will show us Kyril Louis-Dreyfus’ true colours
After their positive summer window, Speakman has once again set a high bar after some previously mixed transfer windows.
Signing the right players could decide whether or not Sunderland earn promotion this season.
But ahead of January, there’s a lot more focus and fear over the players who may potentially leave the Stadium of Light.
During the summer, the likes of Jobe Bellingham, Trai Hume, and Dan Ballard among others, had transfer interest from elsewhere.
Since the summer window shut, both Anthony Patterson and Chris Rigg have been linked with Manchester United, potentially in what could be a £40million coup should both head to Old Trafford.
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus must resist urge to take Sunderland profits too soon
Looking at Sunderland’s first-team squad, and the length of certain players’ contracts, it’s clear that the club are going to make some enormous profits from player sales in the coming years.
Like Clarke, though, Sunderland must time it right. And with regards to the timing, it not only boils down to the price tag, but the fact that the Black Cats are now promotion contenders.
Expectations were limited going into the season. But now we’ve seen enough to expect Sunderland to mount a real promotion push this season.
That may not be possible if Louis-Dreyfus accepts player offers in January. One, maybe two might be inevitable. But realistically, the fans and Le Bris won’t want to see any.
What’s more is that keeping the player for another six months after January likely won’t impact on their transfer values; if anything it’ll increase it, and the summer will give Sunderland more time to negate better deals.
Whilst big money transfer deals will be hard to deflect, Louis-Dreyfus and Sunderland have already shown great patience in the transfer market, and they must retain that mantra a while longer.