clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Twitter Reaction: Where Do SAFC Strengthen First?

We asked over on Twitter which four positions YOU thought Sunderland should strengthen first, and who we should sign to fill those roles.

By Editor Gav
Lars Baron/Getty Images

Gav: I completely agree, we really need to ensure that we sign a central midfielder that will contribute offensively - just take a look at the goal return from the likes of Lee Cattermole, Yann M'Vila, Jan Kirchhoff and Jack Rodwell last season. Two goals between them just isn't good enough and if we are to progress further, we have to rely less and less on the likes of Jermain Defoe to win us games.

I'm not entirely sold on Clement Grenier, however - I spoke last week with a French football journalist who told me the Lyon playmaker is not a fighter, is too lightweight and isn't wanted by his club. All of that would concern me, and to be honest I'm not entirely sure that the Grenier link is anything more than paper/agent talk.

Gav: Well, it seems as though the Davide Santon deal will definitely be happening and, though he's not what I'd call an inspiring acquisition, he certainly is an improvement on what we have at right back. The transfer is reportedly for a fairly low fee, and in Santon we will be getting someone of a decent age that already knows the North East well and has proven himself at Inter Milan, in the Premier League and for his country.

Susaeta is a random one - he is going into the last year of his contract at Bilbao, I suppose.

Though I won't profess to be an expert on Martin Braithwaite, he is the Toulouse captain and his name seems to be continuously linked to Premier League clubs in the press. He had his best season thus far in terms of goals in the 2015/2016 campaign, and he's only twenty-five years old. Similarly, Wissam Ben Yedder is a player we seem to hear alot about without anything actually happening. I guess what we do know is that Sam has had a team out in France scouting every single game extensively, so if these players are good enough and available for a decent fee you can imagine we'll be looking at them.

Gav: I agree that those are our four priority positions. As I've said further up, we need to ease the goalscoring burden on Jermain Defoe so whatever central midfielders we sign have to be able to contribute further up the pitch. Lee Cattermole and Jan Kirchhoff are both more than adequate, but they don't score enough goals.

Carl Jenkinson isn't going to be leaving Arsenal, not until January anyways. He's out injured until October and has been on the treatment table since February.

I just hope whatever striker we bring in is a convincing signing, and not another Dame N'Doye or Danny Graham.

De Guzman - nah, no thanks. He only made one start on loan at Carpi last season, who were relegated. Something doesn't seem right with him. N'Zonzi is a good defensive player, but I'm not sure we need one of those. Ever Banega just signed for Inter Milan on Wednesday!

Regarding signing a marquee player - to a degree, I agree. If they are going to come in and make us a better team then I am all for it, but for me its important we sign the right quality of players right across the board, and not just use the majority of our resources on one signing.

Gav: As much as I'd absolutely love Jonny Evans back at Sunderland, I just don't see that happening. If anything signing a central defender is one of our lowest priorities, providing Younes Kaboul and Lamine Kone get through pre-season without a hitch of course. Plus, Evans is probably West Brom's best player and I can't see Tony Pulis letting go of him for anything other than a vastly-inflated fee.

Diafra Sakho would be a good signing and I really hope we can pull that off. Things went quiet after news of our original bid broke last month, but he's definitely the type of forward that we should be looking to bring in - he's powerful, can be explosive when running with the ball and has proven he can score goals in the Premier League.

I always say that I trust whatever transfer decision Sam makes and, in Sakho, we know that he's played for Sam before at West Ham which to me says everything. If he wasn't any good or wasn't a good character, Sam wouldn't be willing to sign him again.

Gav: Yeah, I think one thing we've learned about Sam is that he likes to play with a target man wide on the left from time to time, so it would make sense that we'd sign a player that is a specialist in that role. Diafra Sakho can play wide if needed, but I wonder whether we'd be best utilising him if we were to sign him and play him there.

Gav: Having seen Neven Subotic linked with Middlesbrough in recent days it makes me wonder whether or not we actually have genuine interest in him (many publications have strongly linked the player to Sunderland in recent weeks) or whether all the talk is just coming from his agent in a bid to get his name out there. I guess we'll see. He'd certainly be a good signing and is a player that has played at the very highest level for a number of years now.

Can you imagine if our main three defenders were Subotic, Kone and Kaboul? Mouthwatering.

Gav: That is a good point actually. Though, I guess that the hope is that Jan Kirchhoff will be a changed player fitness-wise after a full pre-season, whilst everyone is wishing for a Yann M'Vila return, which providing it goes ahead will negate the need for a back up defensive midfield player.

What do you think? Leave your comments below this article, and I'll do my best to respond to them all.

More from Roker Report

More From Roker Report

Sunderland News 24/7

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the Roker Report Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of Sunderland news from Roker Report