Sunderland have missed an out and out no.9 since Ross Stewart left the club last summer.
In fact, with Ross Stewart barely playing last time round, Sunderland will have missed an out and out no.9 for the past two seasons when this current campaign comes to an end.
The Black Cats have relied heavily on the likes of Jack Clarke; especially this season with the 23-year-old netting 15 times in the Championship.
Clarke though may have played his last game for Sunderland after sustaining an ankle injury which is set to keep him sidelined until at least April.
And with the former Spurs man looking set to leave the club this summer, the Black Cats will be left with little goal threat.
The stage is set for Luis Hemir to step up for Sunderland
Summer signing Luis Hemir, although having largely been a disappointment this season, still holds a lot of hype among Sunderland fans.
The Portuguese forward joined from Benfica and there was a lot of pressure on his shoulders to provide the goals for Sunderland, especially so after Stewart left for Southampton.
But in 16 Championship appearances for Sunderland, Hemir is yet to score, and he’s not started a league game since the opening day of the season.
Hemir though impressed coming off the bench against Swansea City last time out, and Mike Dodds has now been speaking about the player’s current situation at the club, and indeed his future.
Dodds told Sunderland Echo ahead of the game vs Norwich City today:
“He’s taken some time to adapt to life in England, he’s a 20-year-old boy who has come over by himself having never left his own country. Sometimes, those boys just need a little bit of time. He’s a wonderful finisher, he’s still got to get fitter but he has improved on that and I think that’s why you see the level of his performance improve in the recent games where he has come on. I think there’s a definite correlation between him getting fitter and his performance level improving.”
Dodds concluded:
“He’s going to be a huge asset for the football game and he will definitely be in the thinking for the next few games, definitely.”
Sunderland must fast-track Hemir into the XI in time for next season
Looking ahead to next season, and once again there seems to be pressure on Hemir’s shoulders to step up and score the goals for Sunderland.
Whilst the Black Cats look set to be bolstered by the summer sale of Clarke and maybe one or two others, the club also look like they could pay out a compensation fee to bring in a new boss, potentially Will Still from Reims.
And still being a fairly stringent club, Sunderland don’t look set to splash huge money on a new striker.
So Hemir, and indeed the likes of Nazariy Rusyn, will have to step up next season.
Hemir though boasts a lot of the same attributes to Stewart in that he’s a taller striker, yet still a very physical and agile one, with clear finishing ability like Dodds points out.
Come the summer, he’ll have had a season to get to grips with the pace and aggression of the Football League and then with another pre-season under his belt, Hemir should finally be at a fitness level where he can start games.
Then it’s just a case of getting him scoring, and Dodds could use these final games of the season to usher Hemir into the first-team a bit more and give him that exposure he needs.
If Hemir can get on the scoresheet in the final weeks of the season then it would be a huge confidence boost for him.
Sunderland go up against Norwich City this afternoon.