After their demotion from the Premier League, Sunderland have failed to erect a strong footing for themselves in the Championship, as they have collected merely 5 points from the 6 league games they have played so far this season. The Black Cats were defeated by Sheffield United on Saturday, which was indeed a severe blow for them. A team of their stature should be looking for the uplift, but seeing their disastrous start, doubts have started to emerge to question their credentials.
The summer transfer window wasn’t a hugely productive one for Sunderland, as there was an apparent lack of quality incomings at the Stadium of Light. They might have injected a lot of names and in spite of that, it seems as if they lack the cutting edge required to be promoted.
James Vaughan, Jason Steele, Brendan Galloway and Lewis Grabban might have been made to sign on the dotted line, but there still exist a lot of loopholes in Simon Grayson’s arsenal which needs to be amended before it gets too late.
Grayson was keen to make a move for bagging a quality striker during the closing stages of the transfer window. However, any sort of a spectacular deal failed to materialize and thus, the manager might just put some free agents on his radar to make the required assessments and then rope them in. The former Preston North End manager hasn’t ruled out the possibility of taking a dip into the free agent market, as per one of the latest reports by Sunderland Echo.
One of the players Sunderland should be targeting to sharpen their attacking tooth up front is Cheick Diabate. Diabate smashed 14 goals in 30 games last season during his spells with Turkish outfit Osmanlispor and French outfit Metz (on loan), but is currently a free agent after his contract with Osmanlispor was forfeited two years early. Nonetheless, he does offer sheer attacking prowess up front and it is only a matter of time before a decent club lures him into their ranks.
The 29-year-old is fast, mobile and is a pure centre-forward who scores goals on a regular basis, the testament of which could be derived from the fact that he found the back of the net on 94 occasions in 216 club level appearances. Besides, the Mali international has volumes of experience under his belt and if Sunderland manage to sign him, he would really fetch a helping hand to Grayson to earn a promotion.
