How will Sunderland's transfer policy and style of play evolve in the Premier League - #onthewhistle - video Dailymotion

Sunderland Echo

Phil Smith answers as part of his regular Q&A with readers

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00:00He says, how do you think our transfer policy will evolve now in the Premier League?

00:03We've paid around £20 million for Lefeuille and he's 25,

00:06so older than any player we'd paid at FIFA or previously under the current plan.

00:11Well, I think that Lefeuille is a little bit of an exception

00:13in terms of the quality he was able to bring midway through the season,

00:16his relationship with Regis Lebris and the fact that he clearly has

00:21significant resale value, even despite, as you say,

00:25him being slightly older and that fee being so significant

00:27because of the level I think he's already reached in European football

00:30when he was at Lorient.

00:31So I do think Lefeuille is a bit of an exceptional circumstance.

00:35I don't think Sunderland's transfer policy will change.

00:37I think the word you use, evolve, is a good one.

00:41But I think Sunderland will just see this as another opportunity now,

00:43a greater opportunity to invest in more young talent

00:46because they'll have deep pockets,

00:48they'll be able to offer the carrot of Premier League football.

00:52But I don't think the strategy is going to change whatsoever.

00:55I think the strategy will still be to try and identify

00:57the best young talent around the world

00:58to invest in them early, to give them opportunities to develop

01:02and to try and boost that long-term sustainability

01:05of the football club.

01:08The interesting question is whether you need

01:10a little bit more Premier League experience in the squad

01:13and that's something we'll find out over the next weeks and months

01:15whether Sunderland feel that way.

01:17Think back to that brilliant first season in the Championship

01:19where Sunderland really upset the odds

01:21and ended up finishing sixth.

01:23Yes, it was built around a lot of players

01:24who didn't have much Championship experience,

01:26a lot of young players.

01:27But you did also have those core sort of group

01:29of Alex Pritchard, Corey Evans before his ACL

01:32in the first half of the season.

01:34Danny Bart obviously was the fans' player of the year that year.

01:37So I definitely think there'll be a factor of

01:39we need to get some Premier League experience

01:41in this group really just to help the younger players

01:44understand what it's all about

01:45and to manage what could potentially be

01:46a really challenging season.

01:47But I don't think the strategy will fundamentally change at all.

01:56I think that it'll still be the Sunderland

01:58we've become familiar with.

01:59It might just be that we're potentially looking at bigger fees

02:03and maybe slightly more established young players if you like.

02:06But I think fundamentally it'll be the same Sunderland next year.

02:09Matthew says,

02:10How do you think RLB will set us up tactically next season?

02:13I thought this was a really interesting question

02:14because one of the big things that's been talked about

02:17over the last few weeks is kind of this idea of

02:20do you really, really want to go up?

02:22Because the gap, not from a Sunderland perspective,

02:24I mean from a neutral perspective,

02:26we're all desperate for another crack at the Premier League.

02:28But clearly the gap between the Championship

02:30and the Premier League has grown vastly

02:31since Sunderland were asked at that level eight years ago

02:33and it's a definite concern.

02:35I think we're all aware that it could be

02:36a really tough year for Sunderland

02:38and I think speaking to a lot of people at Wembley Wayne

02:40and around the sort of weekend,

02:42everybody was kind of saying,

02:43look, we understand that we might find it difficult next year

02:47but if we were to come back down financially

02:49we'd be in such a strong position now

02:51and that's why it's such a big game.

02:52So I think Sunderland fans are quite realistic about it.

02:55But there's a couple of things that I just want to end on

02:56that say they give me a little bit of cautious optimism

02:59for next year that maybe Sunderland can compete

03:02and can do something potentially a little bit better

03:05than some of the other teams we've gone up have.

03:07One is that with this being such a young team

03:09with so much talent,

03:10you just don't know how these players are going to adapt.

03:13They are unknown quantities at Premier League level.

03:16It might be that some of these players take to it quite quickly.

03:18It might be that even if it takes them a little bit of a while,

03:21they're really able to get to grips with their level

03:22and they find that they are capable of playing at that league.

03:25Some of the teams that go up,

03:27maybe you're looking at players who've already played at that level.

03:30We know a little bit more about them.

03:31We know that they've struggled to make the jump in the past

03:34and that's why they sort of ended up back in the Championship.

03:36We don't really know if that's with Sunderland.

03:39It might be that a lot of this core of young players

03:40find that they can actually adapt to the level

03:43and potentially Sunderland can upset a few people.

03:46I think the one point, going back to your question, Matthew,

03:48is the other thing that gives me a little bit of confidence

03:50with Sunderland is that

03:52they're not wedded to a possession-based style of play,

03:58which is quite often what you see with teams

04:00who go up to the Premier League.

04:01And that means that they kind of struggle

04:04when they have to play a different way against teams

04:05with better individuals and more established at the level.

04:10I think that Sunderland will try, especially at home,

04:12they will try and press,

04:13they will try and get the crowd into the game,

04:16they will try and catch teams out.

04:18But I think the fact that they're already quite comfortable

04:20defending their box, playing on the break,

04:22as we always say, suffering out of possession,

04:25I think it's something that gives them a little bit of a chance

04:27that maybe some of the other teams

04:29who go up to that level struggle with

04:30because I think Sunderland are a lot more tactically flexible.

04:33And so fingers crossed that's something over the course of the season.

04:39Sunderland can prove a few people wrong

04:40and make a really, really good fist of it.

04:43So yeah, thank you so much.

04:45There's quite a few questions that I haven't got to.

04:47It might be that I'm able to come back

04:48and do another one later in the week or next week.

04:50We'll see how things develop in terms of club news and what have you.

04:54But I hope you've enjoyed the video.

04:55I thought it was well worth having a bit of a chat about the game,

04:57mainly because, as I said, there's a few things about the discussions

05:00around the game of the Games of Coventry

05:01that I just feel like maybe haven't been quite right.

05:04And I thought that in terms of Sunderland's performance

05:06from kind of pundits and neutrals,

05:09and I thought it was worth discussing.

05:11I always think it's worth reflecting on a Wembley win, isn't it?

05:13And hopefully you've enjoyed some of the sort of transfer chat as well.

05:16So keep your eye out on something like a website,

05:18just so much content still coming over the next couple of weeks.

05:22And yeah, keep your eyes out on this channel as well,

05:24because we'll have loads of video content over the summer.

05:26As I said, thanks so much for watching.

How will Sunderland's transfer policy and style of play evolve in the Premier League - #onthewhistle

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