Sunderland transfer window: The good, the bad, and the ugly (questions)

What can we take from analysing Sunderland's January transfer window as a whole?

Michael Graham | Jan 31, 2023

Sunderland transfer window: The good, the bad, and the ugly (questions) /

So, that was the January transfer window was it, Sunderland? It promised much and delivered, well, a bit.

What Sunderland needed was striker reinforcements, and they never came. One went out, one came in, and one got injured, leaving Tony Mowbray with fewer options than he had before the window.

Anyway, what is done is done, and there is plenty to like about the window Sunderland have produced as well, There are some questions too, though, and we'll get to them later.

The Good

Interesting additions

Let’s start with the positive stuff. Sunderland did manage to get four players in. They all seem to have some pedigree too.

Joe Gelhardt is obviously the most eye-catching of the lot. It shouldn’t be underestimated just how well Sunderland did to sign him given the competition. He is a player of proven pedigree who should probably be playing in the Premier League. He’s now going to be vitally important of course, too.

The other players are a lot harder to judge. We saw a glimpse of Pierre Ekwah at Fulham and most were impressed with what they saw. His touch looked a little rusty, but it was his first senior game so we can forgive him that.

Isaac lihadji has some pedigree behind him from France too, with a brilliant youth career and early inroads into Ligue 1 that got him a Golden Boy nomination. We’re yet to see him, but I’m excited to.

Then there is Joe Anderson, who we know little about, but he is certainly intriguing.

No one was sold

We all know that player sales are coming at some point. Ross Stewart is still here, albeit on only one leg at present, Dan Neil is also still here, and Amad wasn’t recalled.

Granted, Sunderland did lose Ellis Simms, but still. There are Premier League clubs starting to circle around Dan Neil, and Dennis Cirkin has his admirers too, neither of whom are players anyone would want to lose right now.

That the squad remained in tact was a positive that we probably shouldn’t take for granted.

The Bad

A lot of lost experience

For all the four new players look interesting, the lack of experience stands out a mile. I mean, it was an inexperienced squad to begin with.

Then two of the more experienced players, Ross Stewart and Corry Evans, were put out for the season through injury. Their replacements appear to be a 20-year-old (Gelhardt) and a 19-year-old (Edouard Michut).

Spending money on an experienced player or two is, as we know, not part of the club’s recruitment model, but perhaps an exception could have been made?

Certainly, if one couldn’t be made, maybe Bailey Wright could have been kept? I don’t know. I kind of think Wright deserves better than to be just kept around as a babysitter, though.

No strikers

When Sunderland were approaching the transfer window in late December, they had two available strikers and they didn’t think it was enough.

How, then, we have emerged from the transfer window with only one striker is a bit of a mystery.

Some will go further than that. I have seen people call it neglect or incompetence, and if that is how they see it then fair enough. Questions will certainly be asked and fairly so.

Whatever you want to call it, Sunderland have no striker to throw on to try and change a game, no cover for Gelhardt should he get injured, and no real excuses either. They knew this was coming.

The Ugly (questions)

Was there no money to invest?

It’s a question that has to be asked, doesn’t it? After all, four free transfers and a loan does not scream investment.

In fairness, the Gelhardt loan was an expensive one to do, but no one can say Sunderland really pushed the boat out financially over the course of the month.

There was also a lot of squad management there with four in and four (Simms, Dajaku, Matete and Wright) out.

I don’t know the answer, but it’s a question many will ask and probably with good reason.

How could they fail to sign a striker?

To be completely fair, Gelhardt replaced Simms. That was the main job from the moment the Everton man was recalled and they did it. The Stewart injury came after that and could never have been foreseen.

However, two strikers was never enough anyway, was it? We learned that lesson earlier in the season when both were injured.

If allowing the summer window to close with two fit strikers was a risk, then what would we call allowing the winter window to close with one?

Signing quality strikers is hard, we all know that. It’s even harder on a tight budget, and harder still in January. That said, they need was obvious and any kind of a solution not delivered. That’s just the reality.