It seems like Sunderland just cannot stop raiding Everton even with former Toffees boss David Moyes moving on from his post. New boss Simon Grayson has taken the same path and after confirming the arrival of Tyias Browning and Brendan Galloway on loan from the Merseyside club, it is now the arrival Aiden McGeady that has been confirmed by reports.
The Everton winger is expected to get back to work with the new Sunderland boss after they had worked closely together at Preston North End last season. Everton have been on a spending spree at the moment, bringing some of the most exciting talents in the summer transfer market.
It was quite obvious that Ronald Koeman wouldn’t have the 31-year-old McGeady in his grand scheme of plans next season, having already the likes of Aaron Lennon, Ross Barkley, Kevin Mirallas, Yannick Bolasie and Ademola Lookman in that position.
The winger had joined the Merseyside club from Russian side Spartak Moscow back in 2014, and he has since been mostly a loan player for the club playing for Sheffield Wednesday and Preston North End. McGeady had been given his chances at Everton though in 2014 and 2015, where he could muster a disappointing four assists and a goal in 32 appearances over two seasons.
In fact, his last season at Preston, where he managed eight goals and nine assists in 34 Championship appearances has been his best in the last seven years. It seems that Grayson has been able to bring out the best of him after he has been clearly past his prime. The early bloomer has spent his best years with Celtic and Spartak Moscow, for whom he has scored 43 goals and 77 assists in over 280 games over a span of eight years.
Age has made him slow and less of a poacher, but his quality is still undeniable and can still bring in the creative spark. Grayson has been left with a huge task of holding on to as many players as possible and it becomes doubly difficult with the restrained budget the club can offer.
With Jermain Defoe already gone to Bournemouth, Adnan Januzaj returning to Manchester United from his loan stint and Fabio Borini loaned off to Serie A side AC Milan, Grayson will have a huge task getting goals next season; which indicates how important McGeady’s signing could be.
Sunderland did quite well to bring on the Irishman from Everton for a sum of £2million, as they faced stiff competition from Preston and Middlesbrough.
