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.”
Hope you're right, he's a decent player. And I have a feeling that ex-Mags as well as ex-Lads have some weird hoodoo about scoring when they play against us. Might be all in my head, like, the stats probably don't back it up at all
There was a constant claim, on RTG, that ex-players and ex-Mags were 'nailed on to score' against us. So, on a long train journey one day, I went back five years to check ... ... excluding keepers it came back around 17% and that was including 'Geordie players' who'd never turned out for the Mags. No one took a blind bit of notice (Just found the 'facts' on an old message I sent to a mate.)
They're a good team, having a very good season and as they are comfortable it wouldn't surprise me if they have one eye on a good cup run. I don't see us getting anything out of this game but I'm still very excited for it. The atmosphere will be excellent and our young lads will get a real rest. Palhinha is as a good defensive midfielder as there's been in the Premier League this season, it's going to be interesting to see of our team can cause him any headaches.
I don't think anyone's really expecting us to progress to the next round - we would all love to but I think what I and probably most on here are looking forward to seeing is just how far this team has come and how they can compete with a team in the top half of the Prem.
Interested to see how we shape up against a very decent PL side. The result matters little, love a cup run but also rather we really kept legs for a play off effort.
It's pretty even I would say, as long as we turn up and play the way we can - I'll be happy, whatever the final result.
It looks a very young squad. Riggy has just told me he's in it. They've all just been at Durham an hour ago.
I'd think both teams will go for the win, and avoid red cards and injuroes so it could be a very 'skilful' game which would suit us. It's hard to predict until Fulham have announced their starting like up ... ... so I'm staying 3-0 to the Lads,Ha’way!!!
I watched them the other night against Spurs and they've got some big lads playing for them. You're probably right and it will depend on how serious they take the game - do they play full strength or have their main men on the bench "just in case"?
If we manage to get ahead it could get really interesting, they'd throw caution to the wind and that could play into our hands.
