Sunderland have signed former Brighton And Hove Albion winger, Kazenga Lualua on a free transfer after the 27-year-old was released by the Seagulls. His contract will only run for the remainder of the current season.
The 27-year-old was born in Kinshasa but moved to England shortly after being born. He is a product of Newcastle United youth academy and went on to make his professional debut against Birmingham City on 6 January 2007. At just over 16 years old, he was the youngest player to break through to the Magpies senior team at the time and his future looked quite promising.
However, top-flight English football is often hard to match up with and Lualua had to be loaned out to Doncaster and Brighton. He made an immediate impact for the Seagulls and won himself the League One young player of the season in 2010. His loan move was made permanent the next year and Lualua flourished in his early years.
But over the past few seasons, regular football has been hard to come by. Chris Hughton was quoted, “He has worked tremendously hard during his time with us and has played a major part in the club’s history.”
Sunderland need all the help they can get currently stranded at the bottom of the Championship. All of Chris Coleman’s January targets have failed to materialise and the former Wales manager is scouring the transfer market to sign attacking threats before the end of the month.
A second relegation in a successive season and a steep drop to the lower divisions is not something any fan would like to witness and it looks like the Black Cats are headed towards the doomed path. With a lack of resources to successfully sign proven talents, Coleman has had to work around the very limited resources he has been provided.
The wing has been a bit problematic for the former Wales manager and he has scoured the transfer market for an addition in the January window. Liverpool’s Ben Woodburn was at the top of his wish list but somehow the transfer agreement never materialised. Lualua’s arrival will give him the option to provide some width to the team’s attacks. Losing Lewis Grabban was a tough pill to swallow but now he can at least find solace in Lualua’s talents.
Coleman was quoted, “Kaz was determined to come here and get playing first-team football again and I look forward to helping him play the kind of football he is capable of.”
