After his frustrations of not being able to secure deals for most of his targets on deadline day, David Moyes cut a very worried figure as Sunderland were left with only one recognized striker in Jermaine Defoe. Sunderland’s failure to land a striker was one of the biggest disappointments of the window. With the team looking short of options in some areas, fans from the Wearside are beginning to fear the worst for their beloved team. Fabio Borini’s injury has made it worse and the team was in desperate need of at least one attacker before they play their next fixture. The capture of Victor Anichebe would be thus a great relief for the manager. At least he will now have another option up front.
Victor Anichebe is now 28 years old but has played extensively under David Moyes when the Scotsman was the Everton manager. The Nigerian was promoted from the youth to the first team by Moyes and the striker made 130 appearances for the Toffees in the league scoring 18 goals before leaving for West Brom. After his move, Anichebe spoke of the reasons behind him coming to Sunderland and the biggest of them was manager David Moyes as well as Jermaine Defoe.
The striker feels that Moyes can get the best out of him and has also had special praises for his strike partner Jermaine Defoe as well. Speaking about Defoe, Anichebe said “I was speaking to JD before; everyone knows he’s such a great player We played against Sunderland last season and I was watching from the side, just watching Defoe, his movement. He is so strong for a small guy and you know when he gets a chance he’s either going to hit the target or score. I told him that he’s one of the reasons I came here because I feel I can learn a lot from him. Even though I’m 28, you can always learn, there’s always time for that.”
With the presence of someone like Defoe beside him, Anichebe, as he has expressed will be keen to make a mark quickly, something the Black Cats would relish. The move seems very sensible as after a long time there’s also a chance for the striker to feature regularly in the starting lineup following the 3 months injury absence of Fabio Borini. With Anichebe up front, Moyes will have the much needed height and physical presence helping Defoe further with his movement. That’s a big part of his game as he won’t score a ton of goals, but he can hold up play and bring others into the game. If Moyes can get the best out of him then the move might end up being very significant for Sunderland as they look to secure another year in top flight and then build for the future.
