Kristjaan Speakman has revealed that Sunderland concluded a deal for Bertrand Traoré with just minutes to spare in the summer transfer window.
“Bertrand’s availability came fairly late in the window," Speakman said.
"In our planning, we had some key positions to make sure we got sorted out first. Once we were comfortable we had those positions in place, with Lutsha [Geertrudia] for example, then that [winger] was going to be our next move. Luckily, we were able to do that within the timeframe. It was really tight with it being the end of the window – there was literally minutes to spare, really. But we feel he’s a really important part of the group moving forward. Letting Patrick go – a wide right, left footer – we felt we needed to replace that type of profile. He’s got experience at the top level, so we felt it was a good one for us to move on considering the quality of the player and the type of deal it was."
A defender and a winger had been Sunderland's key priorities heading into the final days of the window, but a new striker emerged as a priority when Chelsea approached the club about recalling Marc Guiu following an injury to Liam Delap. Sunderland felt it was best to agree to the request, but only after lining up a deal for long-term target Brian Brobbey. Speakman says the situation was 'unusual' but feels the club have ended up in a good place.
“It was a really unusual situation," Speakman said.
"Not one that I can think that I’ve come across personally in the transfer windows over recent years. We have to be really respectful to the parent club of the player that we take on loan because we want to make sure we’ve got healthy relationships. And also most importantly, to the player. Chelsea came to us with a suggestion, Marc as a player would want to go and play for his parent club and have the opportunity that he’s been working for, which is what ultimately he was coming here to try and earn in the future. That meant there was a position where it was on us to make a decision over what we wanted to do. We weren’t going to make a decision that put us in a detrimental position, but Brian is a player who we’ve been tracking all summer. There’s one or two other players that we’ve been tracking too, and always in the transfer window, it’s about timing. For us, the timing of being able to take Brian and the timing of our position with Chelsea and with Marc meant that we could agree to it. We’re really disappointed on one hand because we really liked Marc. But at the same time, we also really like Brian and we’re really pleased that Brian’s here because we think he’s a player for now and a player for the future."
Kristjaan Speakman on the transfer business that Sunderland could still do
Speakman also confirmed that work was ongoing to secure moves for players whose gametime is likely to be limited this season
Sunderland sanctioned a number of departures on deadline day, but have so far been unable to find new clubs for Ian Poveda, Jay Matete, Timothee Pembele and Joe Anderson after they were informed at the start of pre season that they would not be in the main squad this season.
It's understood that positive talks have been held regarding loan moves for Nazariy Rusyn and Milan Aleksic, while the club would also ideally like to find a good loan move for Ahmed Abdullahi.
“Our transfer window has concluded, but there are some other windows and markets that are still open so we’re going to continue to work in those markets to try to find opportunities for players that aren’t currently in the first-team squad," Speakman said.
"Any professional player at Sunderland, whether they’re outside the squad as a senior player or they’re coming through the academy, has to work as hard as they can to try to get into Regis’ squad and team. That opportunity is there for everybody. We have to try to get the right opportunities for the right players. Some players, at the minute, ideally need more regular games because of where they are in their career. We’re trying to facilitate that, and you’ve seen one or two players go out the building in the last week that would be on the edge of our squad, so at the minute, for them and their careers, it’s best for them to play regular games."
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