Page 8 - 358264 LP231909 A Love Supreme 48pp A5 (Issue 257)

WINDOW ROUND UP
Although he was never given an opportunity to succeed
at Manchester City, while Roberts was on loan at Celtic he played a pivotal role in Brendan Rodgers’ side completing an invincible treble and the following season scored in for The Hoops in an impressive 3-0 victory away to Anderlecht. Of course, he has lost his way to a degree since then with a series of uneventful loans but if he’d progressed at the rate many in the game had predicted, it’s unlikely that he would ever even consider a drop down to the third tier of English football. The signing is also a fairly low risk one, having signed an initial six-month contract, if we get promoted you would back him to adapt to the demands of Championship football without too much difficulty.
Clark is very much in this mould, after bursting on to the scene at Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa, he earned a £10 million move to Spurs where he has struggled to make an impact but like Roberts, he has a great opportunity to kickstart his career at a lower level, while enjoying the facilities and club stature of a Premier League club.
From an emotional standpoint, Jermain Defoe’s arrival was always going to be well received, as much as I usually try and be rational when it comes to new arrivals, I have already dreamt about him scoring a last minute winner at Morecambe on the final day of the season to seal promotion for the lads. The dream also entailed me getting arrested for invading the pitch and getting slapped with a three year banning order, but quite frankly I think I’d take that at this stage.
Despite his age, Defoe would strike fear into defenders at this level if used as an impact sub and the positions he takes up could help exploit the space left by Ross Stewart who
is adept at drawing opposition back lines. His experience combined with the general positivity he will bring to the club makes this signing as astute as it is romantic.
It could be argued that we could’ve kept Aiden O’Brien around for the sake of squad depth, however he would have found himself behind Leon Dajaku, Lynden Gooch, Jack Clarke, Paddy Roberts, and (when fit) Aiden McGeady in the wide areas and after the arrival Defoe he would find himself
DEFOE
Sunderland AFC may be languishing in the lower echelons of the English game right now, but for a few short hours, in the social media bubble that is Twitter, we were box office. Just as most fans were really to wind down for the evening, resigned to the fact that any mooted incomings would have to wait until the morning to be announced, our transfer deadline
Wee Phillie was in prime position to break the news of Jermain Defoe’s arrival at The Academy of Light, once he established that it was indeed Defoe, a couple of hours and several memes later, Sunderland had announced the signing of Fleetwood midfielder, Jay Matete and confirmed the homecoming of Defoe. The double deadline day swoop took our number of January accusations up to six, with
Trai Hume, Danny Batth, Patrick Roberts and Jack Clarke joining earlier in the window.
In terms of outgoings, first teamers Aiden O’Brien and Tom Flanagan joined Denver Hume in departing the club, while fringe players Josh Hawkes and Ollie Younger also left for pastures new, with promising youngster, Will Harris joining Barrow on a loan until the end of the season.
To begin on a positive note, we now look extremely well stocked in attacking areas, Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts are very exciting prospects for the level we are operating at and you would struggle to attract better until we finally get out of this league. Both players have commanded transfer fees in excess of £10 million and looked set to have great careers.
day and more hilariously, Sunderland Twitter burst into life.
HUME
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