When it comes to transfers, patience is the name of the game for Sunderland

They say that good things come to those who wait, and for some Sunderland fans, the striker who’s going to be signing for us had better be a bloody good one after this long wait!

The current air of impatience and frustration is understandable after a slow start in the league, along with us reaching a supposed impasse in the transfer market.

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Naturally enough, fans have expressed their concerns on the poor start to the season along with suitable replacements for Ross Stewart while he recovers from his injury.

Rumours and supposed ‘exclusives’ from ‘in the know’ journalists have been bombarding our phone screens with countless ‘exclusives’ - with some having grains of truth and others being woefully wide of the mark.

If you believe the news reports, we’ve been linked with an abundance of strikers since the beginning of the transfer window, and names such as Tom Cannon, Nazariy Rusyn and Sydney van Hooijdonk have all become familiar over the past few weeks.

Certainly, one of these may sign for the club but I doubt that many of us know anything about them other than Cannon, who was at Preston North End last season.

In one sense, it doesn't matter who they are. Any name will do when it comes to buying new players, and in many ways, the more exotic, the better!

However, is that what we really want?

Without question, we’ve been scouring Europe in search of a new striker and the signings of Hemir and Eliezer Mayenda prove this point. They were virtual unknowns and were only linked with us a matter of days before they were signed.

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A good deal of research appears to go into finding these players and ensuring that it’s the right fit for both parties.

It’s clear that Hemir is probably not ready to be the main man, and it would be very harsh to expect this from someone who’s moved countries and needs to adapt to a new club and culture. The same can be said for Mayenda when he returns from injury, but that doesn’t mean they can’t contribute from the bench.

From my perspective, I think we’ve shown that we’re quite shrewd in the transfer market with the signings that we’ve made, and we generally get the right people in.

Unfortunately, due to the influence of social media, many fans find themselves seeking the next signing as if these deals get completed in double quick time, but sometimes we need to wait a little longer.

It would do us no harm to reflect on our dealings in the transfer market over the last ten to fifteen years, when we often bought players for big money in a panic or without any semblance of a plan and a strategy.

The millions wasted over the years is the reason we now have owners who are trying to make us self sustainable.

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In an ideal world, it would’ve been brilliant for us to have another experienced striker who was ready to start the season against Ipswich Town, but I’d rather we ended up with a Ross Stewart-type signing instead of a Danny Graham, Will Grigg or Nacho Scocco, who contributed next to nothing when they signed.

Ultimately, patience is key when it comes to matters like this, and rumours on message boards or social media are merely that.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the club under the stewardship of Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman, it’s that these signings often arrive out of nowhere.

As I said, good things come to those who wait, and I think it’ll be worth the wait.