Had a few bevvies tonight watching the England match and can I say I'm glad we got roefs instead of petrovic
I never really watch the qualifiers. But given what we have seen of Roefs so far we are not going to be dissapointed about tbe keepers we missed out on I dount we will be envious of any of the keeprs in the league. The lad is 22 so very early in a goalkeepers career and progression and he looks premier league quality so far, he may be right up there with the best keepers in the league come the end of the season.
Regis Le Bris' Sunderland summer transfer window verdict https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/s...is-sunderland-summer-transfer-window-verdict/ REGIS Le Bris has hailed Sunderland's ownership and recruitment team for their significant summer backing and "really impressive" transfer work.... "I'm really positive, really positive because one of the main challenges when you get promoted like that is to strengthen the squad, and it's not an easy task because the investment, the way you work together to recruit so many new players, is a massive challenge. I think so far we are really good." "I'm thinking about the owner, the sporting direction, the recruitment structure and everyone who was involved in that process. It's really impressive. After that, obviously, you have to face new challenges and to put into practice the quality of the squad, and it's a process. At the minute, I'm happy. After that, we'll see throughout the season." The Black Cats have come a long way in a short space of time. Le Bris was appointed on the back of a disappointing 16th place finish in the Championship in the 2023/24 season, and although his squad was strengthened last summer, Sunderland's outlay was modest. This summer, however, the Black Cats have done everything in their power to equip the Frenchman for the top flight, spending in excess of £150m. Asked if he could have imagined such backing when he took charge, Le Bris said: "I don't know. It's a good question. I'm happy, I repeat, I'm happy with the process, the energy of the club, the ambition, the desire to seize this opportunity. We know that to grow as a club in this league, it's a tough challenge. It's not linear, so we don't know what will happen in the future, but right now we can feel that we are well-organised and ambitious." It's so far, so good on the pitch for Sunderland, who won two of their first three games and are joint fifth in the table as they prepare to resume action at Crystal Palace this weekend.
Pierre Ekwah is continuing to boycott training at Saint-Etienne, as his anger at a move from Sunderland refuses to abate. according to Jeunes Footeux, who report that three months after ASSE exercised his purchase option to get him from Sunderland, Ekwah refuses to join the Saint-Étienne squad. The 23-year-old midfielder does not want to play in Ligue 2 and has made that clear. He was unhappy that the clause to sign him from Sunderland was activated this summer. The decision to pay €6m for him was made without prior consultation with him. He only discovered the transfer was happening after Saint-Étienne were relegated to Ligue 2. He had only initially agreed to stay if they weren’t relegated. The solution would have been to sell him on and there were offers from Levante and Glasgow Rangers. Indeed, the Spanish club made two offers, a paid loan with an option to buy for €6.5m, then a €500,000 loan with an option to pay for €7m. Both were rejected by the French club. Ekwah had a meeting with Saint-Étienne’s management on August 28th to discuss the situation alongside his representatives. Rather than a middle ground being found, both parties maintained their positions. Im suprised he has the fire in his belly to stand his ground like this. He looked like he had none when he played for us.
He’s achieving nothing with this stance. Window is shut play till January and look to move then. They mad turning down £7m for the lad to be fair.
He’s not like. He was a solid pro for us. Reserve your ire for players like Stubbs, Rodwell, N’Dong, Djiliboji, who really did take the mick out of the club.
There were probably reasonable expectations that they wouldn't exercise a fairly expensive clause if they were relegated. Ekwah is the joint most expensive transfer in Ligue 2 this year and the joint third highest of all time (based on transfermarkt) so I do think it is odd they went for it and can see why he's unhappy. 90% of the blame should go to his agent, 5% to him and 5% to Saint Etienne for signing a player who did not want to actually join them.
Ekwah at his best was one of my favourite Sunderland players to watch in the championship. Had absolutely everything in his locker when he wanted it, pace, technique, passing, physicality. Just lacks that killer mentality to want it all the time and be at the required level to compete at the very top. If he did he’d be unreal at the base of any midfield and be a 50 million pound player. Unfortunately we’ll never know. Best of luck to the lad though, made a tidy profit on a player that had 10 ish games of top performance at the back end of the luton play off season.
Never like to wish harm on anyone. The good news for him is his ACL probably won't impact the amount of actual games of football he will play in on that construction site in the desert.
Will spend his year collecting fat checks doing Rehab in nice air conditioned rooms. Fair play to him. But getting Roefs over him and Petrovic is starting to look a blessing in disguise
I was nearly bitter but on reflection if he had turned down Saudi money and signed we wouldn't have got Roefs! Roefs looks like excellent so far!
