Black Cats to outfox opening day rivals

Well the majority of the talk and the predictions are over and it is down to the real business for Dick Advocaat and the Lads after a week which has been mixed to say the least.

Article by Jon Guy

A victory in Hannover thanks to a last gasp Costel penalty save saw the team end their friendlies with a victory and quite frankly a win is a win.

Then came the rumours that Sunderland were set to see more new faces before our trip to the Kingpower on Saturday.

Leroy Fer, was always going to be a target for a Premier League side after QPR’s relegation and the majority of fans would have been pleased to see him head to Wearside for a season.

However the curse of the medical struck again and for the second time this pre-season a transfer floundered on the results of the medic’s investigations.

I think the club has done the right thing as Sunderland continue to suffer over the loan of Ricky Alverez from Inter Milan last season. The case will go to FIFA for arbitration but the heart of the argument is that Alverez wasn’t fit, suffered a knee injury and the Italian’s refused to allow Sunderland to get the necessary treatment.

With Fer set to cost a £2 million loan fee on top of his wages it is quite simply too much of a gamble when the role he was to be asked to play demands a great deal of fitness and physicality.

Better news on the face of it in the shape of Yann M’vila arriving. The Frenchman was described as the new Vieira and we are not talking about a television. He has had some issues in the past couple of years but it is clear Advocaat believes he can get the best out of him.

If M’vila does bring his “A Game” to the SoL then he may prove to be a catalyst for Sunderland’s fortunes. We have all seen what a big strong player in the mould of Viera or Yaya Toure can do, and I think they are the type of player that all Premier League coaches want to have first on the team sheet.

Whether we can add Adnan Januzaj to the list of new signings is less straight forward. The fact we have been linked and that seemingly Manchester United will allow him out on loan if they sign Pedro has only alerted other clubs to the possibility. Maybe we will get first refusal should the Barcelona striker arrive and squeeze the Belgian out of Old Trafford.

What is clear is that we will start the season with the players we have on the books and we have to hope that Adam Johnson takes his pre-season form into the opening game.

You have to believe that Sunderland will be a different entity than that we saw last season and that with the new signings we will pose more problems for rival defences and look a lot more secure at the back.

I feel sure that a replacement for the departing Connor Wickham will arrive before the end of the month, but with Leicester, Norwich and Swansea the first three games of the season we will create a platform on which to build and the season will see talk for further elevation rather than avoiding relegation. H’way the Lads!!

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