Sunderland have finally completed the signing of Everton winger Aiden McGeady as per reports, after weeks of pursuit. The 31-year-old Republic of Ireland international has been mostly a loan player for Championship sides since joining Everton and it was a matter of time before a second-tier side picked him up.
Along with him, comes yet another former Everton player in James Vaughan as Sunderland continued their massive raid that had started last summer with David Moyes in charge. According to Sky Sports, the fee for Vaughan has been something in the region of £900,000 while McGeady has priced something around £250,000.
McGeady was an important player for Championship side Preston North End last season where Simon Grayson was the manager then. Speaking after the signing, Grayson said, “Aiden’s career speaks volumes. He’s been an exceptional player and was an outstanding performer at Preston last season.”
Sunderland were undoubtedly the worst side in the Premier League last term and although injuries played a big role in it, Moyes really couldn’t get a real chance of reaching the shore at any time of the season. They finished the season with just 24 points from 38 games. It could have been far worse if not for the heroics of Jermain Defoe as the other options of Fabio Borini and Adnan Januzaj had little to no productivity.
And McGeady will bring this exact productivity to the Black Cats side, which has been missing since two seasons. Though the Irish winger has left his prime years miles behind, under Grayson he reprised some of the attributes last campaign and would hope for a continuation of that next season too. McGeady has managed eight goals and nine assists in 34 Championship appearances last term, which has been his best in the last seven years.
His prime years have been spent in Scotland and Russia for teams- Celtic and Spartak Moscow respectively. He has played over 280 games for them scoring 43 times and registering a whopping 77 assists. His arrival at Everton in 2014 from Moscow was understandable, given his phenomenal form there, but he couldn’t really make any impression whatsoever.
He was given few chances at the Merseyside club in the first two years but he could notch up four assists and just one goal in 32 appearances. And now with the star arrivals at Goodison Park, McGeady knew his chances were over. Sunderland had to loan out Borini to AC Milan as the Italian seeks a last chance at the World Cup next year and Januzaj returned to United before eventually moving on following his loan spell.
