Sunderland: How a good summer is supercharging their season

The main reason Sunderland has seemed like an anomaly this season is that fans who buy Premier League tickets are now used to seeing promoted teams fall back into the Championship.

Last term, all the teams promoted to the English top flight were relegated at the end of the campaign.

This was not new; we have come to accept that there is a massive gap between the Premier League and the Championship, so teams in the English second division will hardly do well in the top flight.

Every club that was promoted this term knew about the trend, and they wanted to end it, which is why they are working really hard to achieve that so far.

Leeds United and Burnley are the two other teams that were promoted back to the top flight alongside Sunderland last term.

However, while both of them finished the season in the second and first spots, which secured their spot automatically, fans who buy Sunderland tickets had to watch their team secure its place through the playoffs.

They beat Sheffield United 2-1 in the final to make a comeback to the big time for the first time in eight years.

Last season’s journey to the Premier League

For several years, Sunderland has been splashing the cash on players to help them gain promotion back to the Premier League.

They have also named several top managers to their bench during that period, but only a few have performed well there.

The task has always been the same: get the team promoted back to the English top flight, but these coaches often fail to achieve that.

When Regis Le Bris left Lorient, they jumped at the chance to name him their manager in June 2024, and that was a decision that proved to be important to their success.

His Lorient team had been relegated before he left, but the reason for their relegation was that his team continued to get taken apart.

The club sold its best players, and the departures left it with a few good players, so relegation was almost certain for the Ligue 1 side.

However, there was little doubt that he was a good manager, and he made an instant impression at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland won all their matches in August 2024, and he was awarded the Manager of the Month in the Championship, an award he also won in October.

Sunderland became an efficient team and kept things simple while ensuring they were too tough for teams to break down.

This gave them a fine base for success. During the season, they experienced ups and downs, but they managed to still finish the term in the fourth spot, earning them a place in the playoffs.

In the playoff, the Black Cats saw off Coventry and Sheffield United to secure to the English top flight.

You Might Also Like: Is Serie A a competitive or a mediocre league?

The summer that changed everything

Considering that they are not one of the clubs that finished the season inside the top two in the Championship, very few people expected Sunderland to perform well this term.

The focus was on Leeds United and Burnley, but when the Black Cats began to make some bold moves on the transfer market, everyone needed to pay attention to them.

Sunderland spent at least £182,300,000 on new stars, and the names include Granit Xhaka, Simon Adingra, Reinildo Mandava, Bertrand Traoré, and Brian Brobbey, among others.

The Black Cats also loaned in Marc Guiu from Chelsea and Lutsharel Geertruida from RB Leipzig, although Chelsea recalled Guiu before the transfer window closed.

Some top clubs in the league did not spend that much in the last transfer window, and it was a huge gamble that Sunderland took with the businesses they did.

Clubs like Nottingham Forest have struggled immediately after gaining promotion and going all out to revamp their team.

Sunderland fans would have been excited and worried at the same time over their club’s spending.

However, their manager seemed confident, and so far, they have been doing well, with the quality of the squad shining through in games.

Who are the most important players at Sunderland

Sunderland has enjoyed so much success this season because of the form of some key players. Who are they?

Granit Xhaka

Xhaka could end this season as the best signing in the Premier League, and adding such an experienced player to their squad has proven to be a masterstroke for Sunderland this term.

The Swiss midfielder has led them well from midfield, and his performance could truly get them a European spot when this season ends.

Robin Roefs

Signing Roefs this season for £11m seems like a bargain now because the 22-year-old Dutchman has been a fantastic goalie.

Sunderland’s worst defeat this season has been by a two-goal scoreline, and it is partly thanks to him, as he has saved 81% of the shots he has faced after ten Premier League games, keeping four clean sheets.

His safe pair of hands is written all over the success that Sunderland has achieved since the season started.

Trai Hume

Hume has been at Sunderland since 2021, yet he remains just 23. The defender has been a part of their story from League One back to the Premier League and is considered one of their own by the fans.

Despite the new arrivals, he has held his own and kept his place on the team because of his consistently good performances over the last few terms.

He looks very comfortable in the Premier League and might even be poached by a bigger club in the future.

You Might Also Like: Why Strasbourg could win the Ligue 1 crown soon?

Noah Sadiki

Sadiki cost Sunderland £17m when they signed him in the summer, but the DR Congo star has been worth the fee.

He and Xhaka have combined well in the Sunderland midfield and caused problems for opposing teams since this season began.

He is the perfect partner for the former Arsenal man, and their partnership will help Sunderland finish this season in a European place.

Wilson Isidor

Isidor joined Sunderland last season and scored 13 goals for them in the Championship, which were important in their push for promotion.

This term, he remains their leading front-man and has been doing a fantastic job at the Stadium of Light.

The Frenchman already has four goals in the league so far, and he could hit double figures by the end of the term as the team continues to perform well.

Régis Le Bris deserves so much credit

Considering how newly promoted teams have struggled in recent seasons, Le Bris deserves so much credit for the way he has kept Sunderland performing well in the Premier League.

They will have their moments of struggles before the season ends, but so far, he has instilled enough confidence in his players to ensure that they are not afraid of any opponent in the league.

When the team’s performance is bad, the manager gets sacked, so Le Bris deserves credit now that his team is performing well.