We’re in the middle of another international break, and as we all wait for the season to resume, why not look back at all those that left last summer on a permanent basis and see how they’re getting on.
ISAAC LIHADJI
This transfer came as a surprise, he had only been with us for one season and had come off the bench a few times last season as he was being slowly integrated into the squad, but then in the summer he was off to Qatar to join Al-Duhail SC and feature alongside the likes of Philippe Countinho and ex-Southampton midfielder Ibrahima Diallo.
He’s played ten times for Al Duhail, notching one goal. In the league Al Duhail sit 4th out of twelve teams, and in the AFC Champions League, Lihadji’s side currently sit bottom of the group and are all but eliminated (although they could still technically progress by winning both of their remaining fixtures). Our former player also featured very briefly against Ronaldo, coming off the bench in the dying moments of a 4-3 defeat to Al-Nassr and he has also had the opportunity to face off against Sadio Mane. Al-Duhail’s season is only seven games in and they are three points off the top so there is still a lot to play for for Isaac Lihadji.
CARL WINCHESTER
Nicknamed ‘Winiesta’ during his spell here on Wearside, the Northern Ireland international played a key role in our promotion to the Championship in 2022. He was loaned out to League One Shrewsbury pretty early on last season and featured 42 times for the Shropshire side as they improved on the season before and finished six places higher in 12th place. To the surprise of very few, he made the move permanent. Winchester has been a regular for Shrewsbury, so far making 20 appearances. Unfortunately, they do seem to be in a precarious position, just four points above the relegation zone, however I’m sure they’ll stay up and it’s very early days. Carl also has an away tie against Notts County coming up in the FA Cup second round, no doubt a difficult fixture but one the League One side are capable of winning. The possibility does remain that we draw Shrewsbury again in the third round and Winchester faces off against us.
LEON DAJAKU
Dajaku was a player who brought a lot of excitement with him to Wearside when he first signed on loan from Union Berlin and for the first few months that anticipation of his arrival seemed to be justified. Things took a wrong turn though, and after December of our promotion season he never really made much of an impact and would often miss really good chances and always appeared to make the wrong choice in the final third. Due to his contract we had to bring him in on a permanent deal as he played the required number of games. Despite being given some opportunities in the Championship he never really impressed and our recruitment staff thought it best to send the young attacker out on loan. Dajaku found himself in the Swiss Super League with St Gallen. To say things went disastrously would be an understatement, he played just 13 times, was sent off twice in the span of only three matches and failed to score or assist at all. His time at Sunderland was clearly over and Leon was transferred permanently to Croatian outfit Hajduk Split. Overall, he’s had a much better time of things and in his 12 games so far he’s found the net twice and assisted once. That isn’t the greatest return but at least he’s managed to make some goal contributions. Hajduk Split’s season is going very well at the moment, despite losing out in the Croatian Super Cup to Dinamo Zagreb and being knocked out in the Europa Conference League qualifiers they are five points clear at the top of the league and remain in the Croatian FA Cup. Hopefully Dajaku continues to improve and can earn himself some silverware.
ROSS STEWART
We’re starting off with the man who left for the highest fee, and the man who caused some division amongst supporters before he had even left as his future departure had been mentioned long before he inevitably left. Some argued he should have stayed, and some argued that what we got for him was a good deal. Personally, I think we did the right thing, we got a decent amount of money and we’ve managed well enough without him, as we did even when he was contractually a Sunderland player.
Since joining the Saints in the summer, Ross Stewart has spent most of his time in the medical room which is no surprise as we all knew this would be the case. When they signed him he was still recovering from an injury, but he is nearing his return to full match fitness as he featured in an under 21’s game for the Saints against none other than Sunderland under 21’s and he even scored. Course he did. But thankfully for us, Sunderland’s academy came out on top. The Scottish international also recently came off the bench for the final few minutes in Southampton’s 2-1 win over West Brom right before the international break began so expect him to be featuring a lot more for the Saints after the international break concludes.
LYNDEN GOOCH
Next up was a fan favourite, and a player who had been with the club for 17 years, Lynden Gooch. Gooch (pronounced Gooooch) came to us as a boy and left a man, so of course his departure was going to be tough to take for all involved at Sunderland, but he left to join Stoke and rejoined with former manager Alex Neil, who left Wearside in a very different way than Lynden.
Gooch has featured 11 times in total for the Potters, but has only played 90 minutes on four occasions. Similarly to his time at Sunderland, Gooch has been used in several positions, but mostly he’s been used on either side of the defence as a full back. Obviously it’s still early days, but at the moment it looks like Gooch is being used as a back up, coming off the bench in the final moments of games.
DANNY BATTH
We could say the same thing about the majority of the lads that left in the summer, and it’s that they were all loved by most of the fanbase, and Danny Batth was no different. Batth joined Norwich in the summer in a bid for more gametime as the arrival of extra defensive cover came in and our player of the year last season decided it was time for something new.
Danny Batth has had a very limited amount of chances at Norwich and they haven’t had a great start to the season, they sit 16th in table and have conceded the most goals in the league, tied with Rotherham on 32 goals against. Batth only has one start, and it was in their most recent game where they won 3-2 on the road against Cardiff and Norwich City fans were largely quite pleased with his defensive work. Other than that he has two more appearances but that only amounts to four minutes on the pitch between those two. You would think after the international break he would keep his place and remain in the Norwich backline but who knows?
BAILEY WRIGHT
Bailey Wright’s departure never came as a surprise, he was sent out on the loan halfway through last season and I think most of us accepted that he wasn’t going to appear again for us. Bailey joined Lion City Sailors in Singapore and I was quite surprised at the decision to go there. Of course we don’t know everything, but I thought he could have still done a job at a lower level Championship side or even League One, like he did with us. The likely reason for his move to Southeast Asia was to be closer to his family in Australia. But regardless, he joined the Singaporean side and in his debut he was sent off, but then he immediately bounced back, scoring two goals in his next game in a 5-2 win. He has so far played five times for the Singaporean outfit, but this has been impacted by an injury that he returned from last month. Lion City Sailors finished as runners up in the Singaporean Premier League but that means they’ve qualified for next season's AFC Champions League and in fact they still have a chance to qualify for the next round of the Champions League with two group stage games remaining. They are also one point away from progressing to the semi-finals of the Singapore Cup, so Wright’s season is far from finished.
ISAAC LIHADJI
This transfer came as a surprise, he had only been with us for one season and had come off the bench a few times last season as he was being slowly integrated into the squad, but then in the summer he was off to Qatar to join Al-Duhail SC and feature alongside the likes of Philippe Countinho and ex-Southampton midfielder Ibrahima Diallo.
He’s played ten times for Al Duhail, notching one goal. In the league Al Duhail sit 4th out of twelve teams, and in the AFC Champions League, Lihadji’s side currently sit bottom of the group and are all but eliminated (although they could still technically progress by winning both of their remaining fixtures). Our former player also featured very briefly against Ronaldo, coming off the bench in the dying moments of a 4-3 defeat to Al-Nassr and he has also had the opportunity to face off against Sadio Mane. Al-Duhail’s season is only seven games in and they are three points off the top so there is still a lot to play for for Isaac Lihadji.
CARL WINCHESTER
Nicknamed ‘Winiesta’ during his spell here on Wearside, the Northern Ireland international played a key role in our promotion to the Championship in 2022. He was loaned out to League One Shrewsbury pretty early on last season and featured 42 times for the Shropshire side as they improved on the season before and finished six places higher in 12th place. To the surprise of very few, he made the move permanent. Winchester has been a regular for Shrewsbury, so far making 20 appearances. Unfortunately, they do seem to be in a precarious position, just four points above the relegation zone, however I’m sure they’ll stay up and it’s very early days. Carl also has an away tie against Notts County coming up in the FA Cup second round, no doubt a difficult fixture but one the League One side are capable of winning. The possibility does remain that we draw Shrewsbury again in the third round and Winchester faces off against us.
LEON DAJAKU
Dajaku was a player who brought a lot of excitement with him to Wearside when he first signed on loan from Union Berlin and for the first few months that anticipation of his arrival seemed to be justified. Things took a wrong turn though, and after December of our promotion season he never really made much of an impact and would often miss really good chances and always appeared to make the wrong choice in the final third. Due to his contract we had to bring him in on a permanent deal as he played the required number of games. Despite being given some opportunities in the Championship he never really impressed and our recruitment staff thought it best to send the young attacker out on loan. Dajaku found himself in the Swiss Super League with St Gallen. To say things went disastrously would be an understatement, he played just 13 times, was sent off twice in the span of only three matches and failed to score or assist at all. His time at Sunderland was clearly over and Leon was transferred permanently to Croatian outfit Hajduk Split. Overall, he’s had a much better time of things and in his 12 games so far he’s found the net twice and assisted once. That isn’t the greatest return but at least he’s managed to make some goal contributions. Hajduk Split’s season is going very well at the moment, despite losing out in the Croatian Super Cup to Dinamo Zagreb and being knocked out in the Europa Conference League qualifiers they are five points clear at the top of the league and remain in the Croatian FA Cup. Hopefully Dajaku continues to improve and can earn himself some silverware.
ROSS STEWART
We’re starting off with the man who left for the highest fee, and the man who caused some division amongst supporters before he had even left as his future departure had been mentioned long before he inevitably left. Some argued he should have stayed, and some argued that what we got for him was a good deal. Personally, I think we did the right thing, we got a decent amount of money and we’ve managed well enough without him, as we did even when he was contractually a Sunderland player.
Since joining the Saints in the summer, Ross Stewart has spent most of his time in the medical room which is no surprise as we all knew this would be the case. When they signed him he was still recovering from an injury, but he is nearing his return to full match fitness as he featured in an under 21’s game for the Saints against none other than Sunderland under 21’s and he even scored. Course he did. But thankfully for us, Sunderland’s academy came out on top. The Scottish international also recently came off the bench for the final few minutes in Southampton’s 2-1 win over West Brom right before the international break began so expect him to be featuring a lot more for the Saints after the international break concludes.
LYNDEN GOOCH
Next up was a fan favourite, and a player who had been with the club for 17 years, Lynden Gooch. Gooch (pronounced Gooooch) came to us as a boy and left a man, so of course his departure was going to be tough to take for all involved at Sunderland, but he left to join Stoke and rejoined with former manager Alex Neil, who left Wearside in a very different way than Lynden.
Gooch has featured 11 times in total for the Potters, but has only played 90 minutes on four occasions. Similarly to his time at Sunderland, Gooch has been used in several positions, but mostly he’s been used on either side of the defence as a full back. Obviously it’s still early days, but at the moment it looks like Gooch is being used as a back up, coming off the bench in the final moments of games.
DANNY BATTH
We could say the same thing about the majority of the lads that left in the summer, and it’s that they were all loved by most of the fanbase, and Danny Batth was no different. Batth joined Norwich in the summer in a bid for more gametime as the arrival of extra defensive cover came in and our player of the year last season decided it was time for something new.
Danny Batth has had a very limited amount of chances at Norwich and they haven’t had a great start to the season, they sit 16th in table and have conceded the most goals in the league, tied with Rotherham on 32 goals against. Batth only has one start, and it was in their most recent game where they won 3-2 on the road against Cardiff and Norwich City fans were largely quite pleased with his defensive work. Other than that he has two more appearances but that only amounts to four minutes on the pitch between those two. You would think after the international break he would keep his place and remain in the Norwich backline but who knows?
BAILEY WRIGHT
Bailey Wright’s departure never came as a surprise, he was sent out on the loan halfway through last season and I think most of us accepted that he wasn’t going to appear again for us. Bailey joined Lion City Sailors in Singapore and I was quite surprised at the decision to go there. Of course we don’t know everything, but I thought he could have still done a job at a lower level Championship side or even League One, like he did with us. The likely reason for his move to Southeast Asia was to be closer to his family in Australia. But regardless, he joined the Singaporean side and in his debut he was sent off, but then he immediately bounced back, scoring two goals in his next game in a 5-2 win. He has so far played five times for the Singaporean outfit, but this has been impacted by an injury that he returned from last month. Lion City Sailors finished as runners up in the Singaporean Premier League but that means they’ve qualified for next season's AFC Champions League and in fact they still have a chance to qualify for the next round of the Champions League with two group stage games remaining. They are also one point away from progressing to the semi-finals of the Singapore Cup, so Wright’s season is far from finished.
