The tempting £12m transfer revelation that Sunderland must resist this summer

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com 
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
The Black Cats are being touted for a big money sale this summer

A 300% profit. You’d have to imagine that’s the kind of thing that gets Kristjaan Speakman’s eyes bulging from their sockets like cartoon telescopes. Perhaps he might even chuck in a slobbering, klaxon-esque ‘AWOOGA!!!’ for good measure.

Sunderland - as you and I and every slothful scouting department in the Premier League (and seemingly beyond) are all too aware - are beholden entirely to their recruitment model. (All hail the model!) It is a blueprint that rests, teetering and distrusted, on three key tenets; buy cheap, develop slightly, sell for less cheap. Repeat ad infinitum, presumably until the club are crowned champions of England or the universe succumbs to its inevitable heat death. Whichever happens first.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It is a manner of conducting business that varnishes everything in an ephemeral gloss; every player has a price, every agreement is a stepping stone, nothing is intended to last forever. Ask Ross Stewart. Or Jack Clarke in approximately six to eight weeks.

Hell, if Football Insider are to be believed, you could even ask Jobe Bellingham. According to the online publication, Sunderland have slapped a £12 million price tag on a player who cost them just a quarter of that figure less than a year ago. Classic Sunderland.

The understanding is that the Black Cats would be seeking an initial £8 million, plus a series of performance-related add-ons, and that Borussia Dortmund are keeping tabs on the teenager. Because presumably a player who is so eager to step out of his brother’s shadow that he chooses not to have his surname on the back of his shirt would jump at the opportunity to sign for exactly the same club that said brother was turning out for as recently as last season.

Football Insider go on to suggest that Sunderland will need to make some kind of big money sale this summer to balance their books, but here’s the thing: it shouldn’t be Jobe. It has felt, certainly since the turn of the year when things began to unravel on Wearside, as if the midfielder has been scapegoated by many supporters who seem to forget that, A) we’re talking about a lad who has only legally been allowed to buy a pint since September, and B) he’s actually pretty decent at football. If any other player had scored seven goals in 45 Championship outings across a single season at his age, every second Mackem would be begging the club to try and lure him to the Stadium of Light on the promise of first team minutes and ubiquitous adoration.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Instead, now that he’s here, many frequently chastise him for being sluggish or dulled. Then again, you would be too if every other week you had to play a midweek fixture that kicked off after your bedtime. By no means is Bellingham perfect; his form has fluctuated at times this term, and there have been games where he has been anonymous to the point of invisible. But anybody who denies the dizzying height of his ceiling is either blind or wilfully ignorant.

It is for this reason that Sunderland shouldn’t sell just yet. Give Jobe another year in the Championship and there is a strong chance that the £12 million or so that the Black Cats are supposedly asking for will feel like loose change compared to his valuation further down the line. Because as any good sporting director knows, the only thing better than a 300% profit is a 400 or 500 or 600% profit. Pretty sure that’s how numbers work.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice