Sunderland battled for striker during January transfer window who has failed to find the net in 10 appearances for Black Cats’ Championship rivals.
Sunderland’s January transfer window business has proven to be a mixed bag of fortunes.
Roma loanee Enzo Le Fee was a monumental coup for the Black Cats, and his return to the field following an injury concern has seen Sunderland supporters excited for his impact in the run-in.
Wilson Isidor made his loan move from Zenit permanent midway through the campaign with the Frenchman becoming a fan favourite on Wearside.
Jayden Danns signed on loan from Liverpool, but the injury discovered in his medical has kept him sidelined from Sunderland action, with fans bemoaning his deal.
It was well-documented that Sunderland were linked with multiple attackers in January, but Regis Le Bris and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman have subsequently been shown to have dodged a bullet with a former top centre-forward target.
Zero-goal Tom Cannon flops for Sheffield United
Centre-forward Tom Cannon – who scored against Sunderland twice this season for Stoke prior to his Blades switch – was pursued heavily by the Wearside recruitment team in January.
It was claimed Sunderland would’ve paid £13million for Cannon, from Leicester amid the Black Cats’ bid for Premier League promotion, but the deal never materialised in their favour. During the window, Le Bris admitted that January moves can be a “gamble”, which hints at why owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus let the Cannon deal slide given the eight-figure fee involved.
When asked to comment on Cannon’s speculated move to Sunderland, Le Bris said back in mid-January: “I like good players. It’s still interesting to watch good players in the league but at the minute we can’t comment on anything. Speculation is speculation, so I can’t comment on anything about that.”
Title contenders Sheffield United beat Sunderland to Cannon’s signing, after forking out the substantial fee for the striker’s services, on the back of Cannon’s nine-goal loan stint at Stoke during the first half of the Championship season.
Chris Wilder’s side shelled out an initial £10million fee up front – with a further £3million looming in bonuses – for the 22-year-old, which Sunderland were reluctant to relinquish before Premier League promotion and the ex-Everton youngster penned a long-term deal at Bramall Lane.
However, Cannon has not fulfilled his hefty price tag so far at Sheffield United and has failed to find the net in 10 Championship appearances for the Blades since January, making only one start under Wilder amidst their Championship trophy fight.
Eliezer Mayenda took his chance to shine for Sunderland
The immediate downside to Cannon’s potential arrival on Wearside centered around the hampering of youngster Eliezer Mayenda’s gametime.
Mayenda’s breakout season has gone from strength to strength, with the Spaniard notching seven assists and five goals in just 20 starts this season under Le Bris. Especially considering that five of Mayenda’s goals have come since the turn of the calendar year, the unseen benefit to missing out on Cannon is the opportunity afforded to the 19-year-old, which he has repaid the boss’ faith.
| Key statistic | Tom Cannon | Eliezer Mayenda |
| Games played | 33 (26 starts) | 33 (20 starts) |
| Goals | 9 | 7 |
| Assists | 2 | 5 |
| Minutes played | 2,302 | 1,926 |
Le Bris has said this season, via the Northern Echo: “Eli is a really good example. I don’t think we expected Eli at that level at the beginning of the season. We were searching for strikers but we had a good striker. He needed one year to adapt, even if he didn’t play much last season.”
Mayenda was outstanding against Sheffield Wednesday before the international break, bagging a game-winning brace, and always makes a positive impact for the Black Cats whether he starts or is utilised as a substitute.
Considering Mayenda joined Sunderland for a reported £800k fee from FC Sochaux in 2023, and Cannon was set to cost almost 13x that figure, Sunderland have been proved on the right side of that particular transfer debacle.