Pete Sixsmith’s doleful report from the Wear/Tyne derby game is on its way, but first things first. We’ve welcomed Asamoah Gyan. And as we look forward to potentially exciting times, let us now wish our departing Shields lad Martyn Waghorn every success at Leicester – maybe he’ll come back as a record £14m signing after banging in 30 goals for them – …
The Mackem diaspora is split into two camps this morning, one much bigger than the other.
In one huge corner, we find the vast majority of Sunderland fans who are excited by the record £13m signing of Asamoah Gyan from Rennes, giving us a £23m strike force when you add Steve Bruce’s last record signing for the club, that of Darren Bent.
And in the little corner over there stand the malcontents who fear we have paid well over the odds for a relatively unproven player and that it could therefore all end in tears.
Deal with the doubters first of all. Yes, £13m is a great whack of money for someone whose goalscoring record in the French Ligue 1 (14 in 53 games) is hardly startling and who now has to adapt to the stronger, quicker and altogether more demanding environment of the Premier.
But he was undoubtedly one of the strikers of the 2010 World Cup. Forget the penalty and remember that he scored three goals in the competition – three more than that bloke called Rooney, two more than Defoe – and generally proved himself a handful.
The Bent-Gyan combination, given a decent run free of injuries or suspensions, is a thrilling prospect. For the first time since Quinn/Phillips, we will have a strike pairing to put serious fear into the heart of all Premier defences.
Spare a thought for Martyn Waghorn and Fraizer Campbell.
Supporters would have loved to see a Sunderland fan from South Shields make it at our place, and Waghorn doubtless wanted it too. But the £3m from Leicester competes with the £13m from us for Gyan in the eyebrow-raising stakes, and is therefore canny business. Salut! Sunderland hopes he scores a hatful for City and develops into a player capable of walking back into most Premier League sides.
As for Campbell, fans are still divided on how good he is. But the fact remains that he was comfortably our most improved player towards the end of last season and had the liveliest of pre-seasons. His long-term injury is a massive blow for him and we hope he can make a full and strong recovery.
We also wish well to Teemu Tainio, who has left by mutual consent. He was a solid if unremarkable midfielder and never let us down.
Perhaps the passing of transfer deadline day leaves us scratching our heads about the continued presence of a few players who needed, for their sakes and ours, to move on. I see no future role at Sunderland for David Healy and only limited ones for George McCartney and, – sadly, because I’m a fan – Andy Reid. There is still time for loans, but only out of the Premier which may not suit all of them.
One last thought: if you want a bit of fun, look back at some of the players we were confidently linked with, the bids we were lining up, swoops about to be made, players about to leave – you can do it by clicking on the newsnow.co.uk link to the right – and then remember that by 6pm yesterday we’d signed one player, sold another and ended the contract of a third.
And the same will go for other clubs. Look carefully to see where, after all that speculation (it was never a question of whether he was going, just to whom he was going), one Charles N’Zogbia will be collecting his September pay cheque. Wigan Athletic.
Colin Randall
No Malcolm, I agree. The ways in which loans works these days seems to have changed considerably. Fees for the season and wage subsidied are allpart and parcel of it. I wonder just why a club would let a lad like John Mensah go out on loan for two years. This is just an example.
Even though the millions are getting spent these days, there’s still a balance sheet to deal with, at the end of the day. I think that this is the main reason why MW has gone. It’s a real shame because he’s one of us and has a lot of promise.
I don’t know the ins and outs about how loan deals work Jeremy but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Man Ure are still paying some of Welbeck’s wages. As well as the £3m the club got for Waghorn he is off the wage bill. With Tainio gone too then it makes Gayan that little bit more affordable.
I really don’t care about Zog, Bill. I question his level of commitment but am sure underneath it all he’s a decent enough player.
He was just a glaring example of how the wild rumour mill works.
A site called Click Lancashire must be deeply embarrassed that its report from yesterday, confidently headed Stoke City to beat Sunderland AFC to Wigan Athletic winger Charles N’Zogbia is still top of the newsnow.co.uk Sunderland page.
Best of luck to Waggy. He is a very good acquisition for Leicester. In the grand scheme of things 3M is a good sale for someone who has not been tested in the PL. It’s a real shame that he didn’t get the chance. I do question the legitimacy of the decision (on footballing grounds) of bringing in Welbeck who has had even less action than MW at any level. We shouldn’t be developing the youngsters of other clubs if that same opoprtunity has been denied to the best products of the academy. I doubt very much whether SB wanted to let Waggy go, but the fee for Gyan had to be sourced some how. We can’t have everything. I hope that Waggy’s departure allows Ryan Noble a chance to show what he can do.
Best of luck to Martyn Waghorn at Leicester.
You’re not a fan of Zog, are you Colin? Let’s hope you’re right about him!
Living in rural Leicestershire I heard lots of good things about Martyn from the Foxes I came across in my day to day existence last season. Those I saw last night were chuffed to bits that he was going back. Equally, I was chuffed that we can look forward to Gyan in the stripes. I’m hoping he will be the missing piece in the jigsaw I wanted to see. Shame Waghorn had to go to help fund him but needs must I suppose. The club still have Healey’s wages to find and probably will have to pay the bulk of them even if he goes out on loan. All the best Martyn.
I think I’m of the thought that had we signed Gyan for £10m, then Waghorn was staying but because it was £13m and only offset by the £8m from Jones I think we needed to get a little bit more income and that meant Waghorn needed to bring in some more money. £3m is a good price for someone untried in the Premiership I suppose and I hope him success, just not so much that it comes back to haunt us one day.
Still, here’s to Gyan and the plenty of success it will bring us!