Sunderland fans may be fearing a total clear out of the squad should promotion not be achieved this season.
It can be argued that the current Sunderland first-team squad is worth £100milliom, or even in excess of, with the Black Cats having so many exciting young players on their books right now.
There was a horde of names who in the summer had links to the Premier League or other top leagues in Europe, including all of Anthony Patterson, Dan Ballard, Trai Hume, Jobe Bellingham, and Chris Rigg.
And in many cases there was a £20million price tag mentioned. Now with each of the above mentioned players impressing, there’s every chance that come January or next summer, their values will be much higher than £20million
Sunderland under Regis Le Bris currently sit in 1st place of the Championship table. Last time out, Sunderland beat Oxford United 2-0 at the Stadium of Light to cap a perfect nine-point week.
Graeme Bailey backs Sunderland trio to leave in 2025, if Black Cats aren’t promoted
Speaking to Sunderland AFC News, transfer expert Graeme Bailey has backed three Sunderland players to leave in 2025, should the Balk Cats fail to earn promotion.
Bailey believes that Rigg moves on, regardless of promotion, whilst backing defenders Ballard and Hume to leave the Stadium of Light should Sunderland fail to achieve promotion this season.
He told Sunderland AFC News: “You can’t lose them all, obviously. I think it’ll depend on the market.
“If they don’t go up they’ll probably lose two or three. Chris Rigg definitely. Ballard probably, and maybe Hume.”
During the summer, Ballard was linked with Will Still’s RC Lens side, with Premier League interest from the likes of Wolves reported more recently.
Meanwhile, Hume was linked with Aston Villa, Bournemouth and Napoli during the summer transfer window.
Bailey has also told Sunderland AFC News that Manchester United remain the favourites to sign Rigg.
How much is this current Sunderland XI worth?
As mentioned above, there’s a case to argue that the Sunderland owners are sitting on a goldmine right now, possibly worth in excess of £100million.
Earlier in October, we totted up all the reported values of each Sunderland player and landed on a total value of £109million.
But Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman know they can’t just cash in all at once next summer, should the club miss out on promotion.
They need to stay true to their model of buying and selling for huge profits, so some sales are inevitable, but they need to maintain a level of quality in order to get to the Premier League.
Ballard, Hume, and Rigg could net the club well over £50million in transfer fees next summer.