Deadline Day: Who will go and who will stay as Sunderland finish up their transfer business?

Outgoing: Stewart off to Southampton

Barring a failed medical, it seems nailed on that we’ve seen the last of Ross Stewart in Sunderland colours, which is a massive blow in my view. Time will tell whether it’s a good deal or not – after all, £10m for someone who’s barely played in 12 months and could sign for an overseas club for free in four months’ time is a decent fee, however, it’s frustrating that we couldn’t keep hold of someone who’s one of our best players.

Anyway, he’s off - and the search for a new striker or two becomes even more pressing.

Outgoing: Lynden Gooch to Stoke

I’m torn on this one. Gooch lives and breathes SAFC, and Speakman’s comments about Luke O’Nien last week could just as easily have been about Gooch. He’s versatile, he cares, and he’s the type of person we want at the club.

On the flip side, he’s suffered a bit from that versatility. He’s never been able to nail down a regular place in the side for any great length of time, and he wouldn’t be in many people’s strongest XIs. A fee of £1m is decent. It’s just a shame he’s going to Stoke.

Potential outgoing: Patrick Roberts to Southampton

This one seemingly reappeared from nowhere yesterday after a few murmurings over the summer, and it could have legs unfortunately. Roberts is another out of contract in the summer, and the club could decide to cash in if they’ve been unable to agree a new deal.

Potential outgoing: Danny Batth to somewhere

Talk of Batth’s departure has gone on all summer, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him depart too. Blackburn have been heavily linked.

Potential outgoing: Alex Pritchard to somewhere

This one’s another that’s rumbled on all summer, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Pritchard leave the club. It’ll be a shame – I actually think he should be starting at present – but we’re overloaded with number 10s and it’s likely he’ll be off.

Where to is the question – Stoke has been rumoured.

Potential outgoing: Jack Clarke to Burnley

Another that’s rumbled on all season, but it’s likely Burnley will come in with a last-day offer to test our mettle and test Clarke’s desire to leave. Depending on what conversations have taken place behind the scenes, and where Clarke’s head is at, I wouldn’t be surprised if something happened here – although I really hope not.

Potential outgoing: Pierre Ekwah to Stuttgart

One that came out of the blue on Wednesday, and I think it’s very unlikely to happen, but the club turned down a bid for Ekwah from Stuttgart earlier in the week.

Will they come back in? Possibly.

Other potential outgoings – will anyone leave on loan?

The likes of Ba, Bennette and Huggins need some regular football, and it’s unlikely they’re going to get it here this season, so there’s every chance they could leave on loan. Whether Ba and Bennette get English loans or not will tell us everything about where the club sees their futures.

---

Incoming: Nazariy Rusyn from Zorya Luhansk

The Ukranian centre forward has been linked for a few weeks now, and a move is seemingly imminent. It’d be a surprise if he’s not a Sunderland player by the time the window closes.

Incoming: Adil Aouchiche

A number 10 who can also play out wide (which adds weight to Pritch leaving), Aouchiche was very highly rated a couple of years ago and was linked with moves to Juventus and Arsenal. It’s a bit of a Lihadji backstory, so hopefully, he’ll stick around longer than his countryman did if he does sign!

Potential incoming: Eduoard Michut

A surprise name to re-emerge yesterday, Michut did pretty well last season, and given our need for a defensive midfielder, it wouldn’t be a surprise if we’d turned our attentions back to him. While we didn’t take up our option to buy, Michut’s potentially available for a better deal now, so we’ll see how that one pans out.

Potential incoming: Alan Virginius from Lille

Another Frenchman, this time a left winger from Lille, we had a good bid turned down for him this week, but he was left out of Lille’s last game with a move in the offing. I wouldn’t be surprised if this one came off today.

Anyone else to come in?

Regardless of any departures, we certainly need at least one central midfielder, two strikers and one winger to add to the current squad, and anything after that depends on outgoings. My major concern is a lack of any experience – if Batth, Stewart, Gooch and Pritchard leave, we’ve got no-one bar Bradley Dack who’s been there and done it, and in my view that’s a big problem.

All in all, it will be a busy old day at Sunderland, and one the club probably hoped to avoid.

It’s been said before that well-run clubs aren’t busy on deadline day, but circumstances have dictated that we need to do a lot of business today…

Just hope the fax machine’s working. And Will Grigg is nowhere in sight.