This summer could scarcely have been more different at Sunderland, where patience has replaced the dopamine hit of last year’s constant churn of done deals.
At this point in 2025 arrivals had hit double figures as the Black Cats took decisive action to reboot a team promoted from the Championship via the play-offs and – to put it bluntly – not fit for Premier League purpose.
Twelve months on the remit is different. “Finessing” Regis Le Bris’s talented young side is the aim for influential sporting director Florent Ghisolfi this summer, with the club aiming to bring in “genuine upgrades” rather than frittering their Europa League dividend on padding the squad with filler.
It is believed a budget of around £80m to sign “three of four” more new players is available and the first of those will walk through the door this week after Sunderland finally agreed a fee of £25.6m with Toulouse for long-term left-back target Dayann Methalie. He will be announced in the next 24 hours.
The protracted negotiations for Methalie have revealed a change in Sunderland’s approach. Toulouse had wanted in excess of £30m for the defender but the Black Cats stuck to their guns and – buoyed by the fact the France under-21 defender really wanted the move – have managed to secure a top young talent for what they believe is a good price. They beat Roma to his signature despite the Serie A side bidding more.
The few millions shaved off matter. Qualifying for Europe was a historic moment for a club whose sole experience of European football came 56 years ago in the Cup Winners Cup, but it also came with new considerations around spending.
How Europe is shaping Sunderland’s transfer business
Insiders insist Sunderland are not close to breaching Uefa’s spending rules (which limit expenditure to 70 per cent of revenue) but have to be “mindful” of the cap in their recruitment, especially now the club’s aim is to qualify for Europe regularly.
Similarly, regulations around the number of homegrown players they must name in the matchday squad might come into Sunderland’s thinking with signings later in the transfer window.
But mainly the Black Cats’ business is following the club’s new internal mantra of “relentless improvement”.
Sources point towards Granit Xhaka’s memorable speech on that sunny day in May when Europa League football was secured in front of a rapturous Stadium of Light crowd and he promised this was “just the beginning”.
“Those weren’t just empty words. Everything is geared towards this idea of onwards and upwards, the club’s focus is on getting bigger and better,” sources say.
Repelling Chelsea’s attempt to sign Xhaka sent a good message but their ambition feels genuine. Taking “Sunderland to the world” is the aim, with a successful European campaign seen as the perfect platform to do it.
The positions Sunderland are targeting
With that in mind The i Paper understands Sunderland are confident of a minimum of two further arrivals in the next fortnight – although incomings (and outgoings) are likely to number more before 1 September.
They hope a winger who can play on both sides – but primarily on the left side – will be next through the door and the club also want a No 9 to support Brian Brobbey and Wilson Isidor, with the latter not for sale despite interest from Hull City, Everton and West Ham.
The club signed Belgium full-back Thomas Meunier in July but patience has been required because the market Sunderland are shopping in – players valued between £20m and £40m – has been the most difficult to operate in this summer.
Sunderland to sign Visit Ghana deal
Away from transfers The i Paper understands the Black Cats are on the verge of securing the most lucrative sponsorship deal in the club’s history.
Final contracts are due to be signed this week with Visit Ghana, who are in line to be the club’s new front of shirt sponsor in an agreement understood to be worth around £10m a year.
That number would put Sunderland in the top half of the Premier League in terms of revenue figures – some achievement considering they were in League One four years ago.
An enhanced kit deal with Hummel continues to reap rewards. Home and away kits are breaking sales records, with a 44 per cent uplift in first-day sales on the home kit compared to last year.
Sunderland’s collaboration with the Elvis Presley estate – which is inspired by the club’s long-time matchday anthem “Can’t Help Falling in Love” – is behind a pink change strip that has sold particularly well in America.
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A seven-figure sum has also been sunk in infrastructure. Some of it has been driven by the need to upgrade for Europa League football – new dugouts, an artificial warm-up strip and LED boards – but others are intended to send a subtle message to the players about the club’s “high performance culture”.
A basement space at the Academy of Light has been built for the first team with a focus on “recovery and well-being” and there’s also a state-of-the-art new gym for the academy and women’s teams.
There is a sense this is a big moment of opportunity for Sunderland but balancing Europe and domestic football will be a challenge. The club have studied how others have done it in a bid to find the right formula.
Many outside Wearside predict they will struggle but for a club that have relished proving the critics wrong over the last few years, you suspect they would have it no other way.