Sunderland and their recruitment model have been widely discussed in the past few years.
Sunderland under sporting director Kristjaan Speakman have made some hugely positive moves in the past several years.
Since being appointed in December 2020, Speakman has since overhauled the Sunderland first-team squad, to one that is now brimming with young and expensive assets.
The Black Cats, per reported interested and reported valuations of their players, could rake in close to £100million if they cashed in on all of their wanted stars this summer.
That’s unlikely, of course, with Sunderland still pushing to get back to the Premier League after seven-year hiatus.
But Regis Le Bris’ Sunderland aren’t exactly big-spenders in the transfer market either.
Sunderland seem to spend their share of money in each transfer window but have focused more so on free agents this summer; although a big-money striker signing could be in the works with Sunderland eyeing Ike Ugbo.
Changes to the model may be necessary to give Sunderland more of a edge in the transfer market. And journalist Phil Smith has urged the club to copy one of their Championship rivals.
Sunderland told to be more like Coventry City
Writing for Sunderland Echo, Smith has suggested that Sunderland might want to take note of Coventry City.
Smith wrote: “The model they [Sunderland] might like to follow along the way would be Coventry City, whose vast profit generated on the sale of Viktor Gyokeres allowed them to sign Ellis Simms and Haji Wright in deals that would have previously likely been beyond their means.”
Smith suggests that a big player sale at the Stadium of Light this summer could be the ‘way forward’, as it would give Speakman some spending money in the transfer market.
Last summer, the Sky Blues sold Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer for a combined fee of more than £40million, then spending almost all of that money on the likes of Wright and former Sunderland loan man Simms, with seven others joining for transfer fees last summer.
Who Sunderland should sell this summer is clear
Coventry are certainly making improvements to their first-team squad every summer, having spent more money this summer on names like Jack Rudoni and Brandon Thomas-Asante.
And it all stems from the sales of Gyokeres and Hamer last summer, and with more players making an impact for the club, they could soon have more players worth big amounts, like Sunderland do now.
Sunderland aren’t necessarily risking themselves by keeping hold of certain players, as nearly all of them are under longer-term contracts barring Jack Clarke, who’s out of contract in 2026.
Clarke is the standout. Clarke has plenty of Premier League interest and given his contract situation, it might be clear that Speakman should offload him this summer; that, and Clarke would arguably command the biggest transfer fee of any Sunderland player.
He’d certainly be difficult to replace. But Coventry managed to replace their key stars, and then some.
Sunderland definitely need to take note of the teams around them who are making progress; maybe selling one of their key players this summer isn’t such a bad idea, but Speakman has already left it quite late.