- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,129,603
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images attach
[Getty Images]
Sunderland spent £161m on 15 new players after gaining promotion to the Premier League.
The season before, the three promoted sides - Leicester, Southampton and Ipswich - spent a combined £276.5m but returned to the Championship with the lowest combined points total of relegated sides in Premier League history.
Essentially, spending big is no guarantee of survival. But spending big and spending well is what Sunderland achieved.
"A lot of players came in last summer and there were questions, but Le Bris created that culture and philosophy," said former England striker Ellen White on BBC Final Score.
He has managed to seamlessly embed those signings into his system and extract the best from them - creating a squad that looks far greater than the sum of its parts.
Brian Brobbey, signed from Ajax for a reported £21.6m fee, has proved a key addition up front with a club-high seven Premier League goals, while France defender Nordi Mukiele, who joined from Paris St-Germain, has brought leadership and experience.
The £13m fee they paid for Granit Xhaka looks like a steal now as the former Arsenal man has dictated in midfield, while goalkeeper Robin Roefs has been outstanding.
Noah Sadiki's energy and skilful ball-carrying ability have also been crucial, underlining Sunderland's smart recruitment as they built a squad capable of competing at the highest level.
With Europa League added to their schedule next season, the test now is whether Sunderland can carry this momentum on to the continental stage.
Read more about the Black Cats' European qualification here
You must be registered for see images
Continue reading...
