:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/27260819/186626600.0.jpg)
Gus Poyet has seized control of Sunderland's transfers in the wake of Roberto De Fanti's departure, the Uruguayan has confirmed.
De Fanti was sacked last week after a largely unsuccessful summer of recruitment on Wearside, following the another major protagonist in the tale of woe, Paolo Di Canio, out of the door.
Howevr, there are plans to appoint a new individual to the Director of Football role and persist with the current model. In the meantime it is Poyet himself who has stepped into the breach.
I was involved in the opinions and the decisions about players before, but Roberto De Fanti was doing his job.
Now we are doing it a little bit different - sharing a little bit more responsibility. I am doing a bit more work. It is maybe the difference between being a head coach and a manager. I am half and half now.
We need to cover the situation and get on with it.
My phone has been a bit more busy than last week but I have no problem with that.
We will see how we manage to finish the transfer window.
It is no huge shock. Poyet was taking a much more hands-on role than his predecessor (despite that option being similarly open to him) and January's targets have been driven by his recommendations anyway.
I suspect that there will be a large number of fans who would be quite happy to see this temporary arrangement become a permanent one. There is a natural distrust of Directors of Football in England and it hasn't been helped on Wearside by both De Fanti's performance and his near-total lack of accessibility to fans.
I'd personally like some kind of middle ground. Let Poyet continue with a very active role in first team recruitment, but also appoint a new man to work alongside him looking after longer term projects and assisting with the negotiations.
You do wonder, however, whether this window will essentially prove to be Poyet's audition for more power at the club. It's an interesting time.
