SUNDERLAND got their summer business off to a great start last week with the acquisition of Daniel Ballard who has joined the club from Premier League Arsenal for a fee understood to be around £1.5 million.
With just over a month to go in the season, the Black Cats are working away at the Academy of Light with a trip to Portugal pencilled in later this week.
Manager Alex Neil did say the bulk of his time will be spent on recruitment for the foreseeable future with Sunderland hoping to build a squad capable of consolidating their position in the second tier of English football.
Jack Rudoni, Jack Clarke and Nathan Broadhead are all on the club’s radar but there are other gaps to plug in the squad. What areas should Sunderland be strengthening over the summer?
Goalkeeper
There will be a level of anticipation to see how well Anthony Patterson does with the Championship after playing a major role in helping Sunderland achieve promotion from League One. However, this season will, unquestionably, be a jump up in standards.
Manager Alex Neil, who’s been a stalwart in the Championship for a number of years, will be quick to remind the keeper just how tough it can be to cope with the demands and the pressures.
With that in mind, a steady number two who has played at that level before would be ideal. There is absolutely no doubting Patterson’s ability and potential to succeed in the Championship but if he needs to step away from the starting eleven at any point, Neil will want to be prepared if he has to make that call.
To that end, there are number of options Sunderland could pursue. John Ruddy, recently released by Wolves, would be the ideal candidate and the Black Cats were linked with a move for the former Norwich City man last month. He spent the last four years acting as a number two for Rui Patrico and then Jose Sa.
Right-back
This isn’t necessarily an immediate problem for Sunderland at the moment but nevertheless, with the exception of Trai Hume and the injured Niall Huggins, they don’t really have a fully fledged right-back.
Carl Winchester started the season there in fine form and even found an eye for goal bombing forward from that position scoring three by the end of September. Under Lee Johnson, he was one of the first names on the team sheet at right-back.
Under Alex Neil, it took a bit of time to feel his way into the squad as he made several changes to his starting line-up. Eventually, Lynden Gooch was handed the responsibility in the closing stages of the season with Winchester suffering from an ankle injury.
Hume may well be a full international with Northern Ireland but it remains unlikely that he will break into the first-team for next season. To that end, is Neil happy to continue with a combination of Gooch or Winchester at right-back or will he look elsewhere.
Striker(s)
Surely Ross Stewart can’t handle the full responsibility of being the only striker at the club next season? Also, if he gets injured the Sunderland are very short.
As things stand, Sunderland have held talks with Everton about possibly re-signing Nathan Broadhead. He currently has one year left on his current contract but it generating interest from other clubs.
After his 26 goal haul last season and an international debut with Scotland, Stewart is potentially Sunderland’s most valuable commodity. There will be plenty of eyes on him as he looks to prove himself in the second tier of English football for the first time.
But the Black Cats can’t place the whole goalscoring burden on him for next season. With Jack Clarke and Jack Rudoni, both attacking midfielders, currently on Sunderland’s radar, it remains to be seen if any strikers will make the switch to Wearside.
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