Loan or a perm? SAFC admin clearly shot their bolt with the announcement tweet and have got nowt left to confirm the deets with
https://safc.com/news/team-news/2023/january/sunderland-sign-isaac-lihadji 2.5 year deal with club having an option of extra year
Sunderland AFC is delighted to announce the signing of Isaac Lihadji for an undisclosed fee. Arriving from Ligue 1 side LOSC Lille subject to international clearance, the talented 20-year-old has signed an initial two-and-a-half-year contract at the Stadium of Light with a Club option of a further year. Lihadji made 39 senior appearances during his time at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, including 21 in Lille’s 2020-21 title-winning campaign and three in last season’s UEFA Champions League. He is one of only two current Sky Bet Championship players to be nominated for the 2022 Golden Boy award, with fellow Black Cat Amad also shortlisted for the prestigious accolade. Lihadji started his career at Septemes-les-Vallons before moving to Olympique de Marseille aged 14 and rapidly progressing through Les Phocéens’ youth set-up. He made his senior debut for OM at 17 and went on to feature on one more occasion for the Stade Vélodrome-based outfit, whilst also earning international recognition with France from Under-16 to Under-21 level. The Frenchman will wear the no.22 shirt and will train with his new team-mates for the first time on Friday morning. Lihadji said: “I can see it’s a beautiful city with supporters who have a great love for football, so I’m happy to be here. The project attracted me because the club inspire young players to improve their level and I am ready for the challenge. I’m excited to play for the club and I’m eager to get on the field.” Tony Mowbray added: “We are delighted to welcome Isaac to Sunderland AFC and it’s a mark of the Club’s progression that we can attract this level of talent when so many others were in the mix. His playing time has been limited in recent months and we need to manage our immediate expectations, but he will add competition to the squad and we always have one eye on next season. I often talk about how important it is to keep putting talent into the Club, so we are delighted that Isaac has chosen to continue his career with us and we are looking forward to working with him.” Isaac Lihadji joins SAFC - SAFC
Lihadji said: “I can see it’s a beautiful city with supporters who have a great love for football, so I’m happy to be here. The project attracted me because the club inspire young players to improve their level and I am ready for the challenge. I’m excited to play for the club and I’m eager to get on the field.” Tony Mowbray added: “We are delighted to welcome Isaac to Sunderland AFC and it’s a mark of the Club’s progression that we can attract this level of talent when so many others were in the mix. His playing time has been limited in recent months and we need to manage our immediate expectations, but he will add competition to the squad and we always have one eye on next season. I often talk about how important it is to keep putting talent into the Club, so we are delighted that Isaac has chosen to continue his career with us and we are looking forward to working with him.”
Love it. 21 appearances in a title winning side, 3 CL appearances, only 20.....aye, you'll do for me bonny laaadddd
"He is one of only two current Sky Bet Championship players to be nominated for the 2022 Golden Boy award, with fellow Black Cat Amad also shortlisted for the prestigious accolade."
My view Bob, and I’ve said this previously, is that the management of supporters expectations is what’s key here and that is very difficult. If we were to go up and be happy to have a couple of seasons yo-yoing and taking the riches of the Premier league to assist in building a team ready to eventually properly compete at the higher level whilst still keeping sustainability, that would make complete sense from a business perspective. The issue is, how many if our fan base would demand instant spending and financial risk to TRY to stay in the premier league and risk undoing all the good work that went before? I dare say there’d be a lot of negative rumblings from those supporters and the feel good factor might just disappear. We have to take what comes though and if thats promotion, we need to embrace it and give it a damn good go whilst staying within our means. All in my opinion of course!
Loving this so far, season great fun. Hope folks don't cry too much when we have to sell one of the favourites. That means the model is going to plan.
This signing just strengthened my position of not giving a **** about lochness signing a new deal! He’d be off his tits if he wants to leave to an Everton etc! we are getting better by the day literally in every aspect of the club.
Having played at Marseille, and in Europe, he'll have no problem turning out in front of 40,000 Sunderland supporters.
