Sunderland can keep splashing transfer cash as January Plan B emerges
Sunderland will be able to spend more money in the winter if needed but hope to stick with what they have got after a stellar start to life back in the Premier League.
Sunderland clinched a long-awaited return to the Premier League through the Championship play-offs in May, and an unprecedented summer window followed as they overhauled Regis Le Bris’ squad.
Their spending focused on bolstering his options across the pitch, with Habib Diarra arriving at Sunderland for a club-record fee, Reinildo Mandava joining the Black Cats after he left Atletico Madrid and Dutch international striker Brian Brobbey moving to Wearside from Ajax, among many others.
Former Arsenal star Granit Xhaka was undoubtedly the biggest coup of Sunderland’s summer as he joined the club in a surprise move from Bayer Leverkusen, and he has led them with real purpose so far after being handed the captain’s armband by Le Bris.
The Frenchman’s squad looks well prepared to try and avoid the drop this term, but if things do not work out and the Black Cats are in a relegation battle come January, they will be able to spend more to get out of trouble.
Sunderland will be able to spend more in January with no PSR concerns
Sunderland splashed out around £161million [BBC] on 15 new signings throughout the recent transfer window, which is the highest summer spend by a promoted side in Premier League history.
Finance expert Dan Plumley told Football Insider last month that Sunderland’s extravagant spending would not lead to PSR issues because of the profit made from selling the likes of Jobe Bellingham and Tommy Watson.
According to a new report from iNews (7 September), Sunderland actually retain enough PSR headroom to sign even more players in the January window, if they need to, but that is Plan B, since Plan A is that their current squad stays as it is and continues to adapt to the Premier League together.
Sunderland will not need to spend much in January if they keep up their current form
Football Insider verdict
Many would have tipped Le Bris’ side to struggle in the top-flight upon winning an unlikely promotion last term, but their summer spending has completely changed the perception on their chances of survival this season.
Sunderland actually look like the most likely of the three promoted teams to stay up, at least based on the first three games of the campaign, during which they have beaten West Ham and Brentford on home soil, but lost to Burnley at Turf Moor.
| # | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
| 1. | Liverpool | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | +4 | 9 |
| 2. | Chelsea | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +6 | 7 |
| 3. | Arsenal | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | +5 | 6 |
| 4. | Tottenham | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | +4 | 6 |
| 5. | Everton | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 6 |
| 6. | Sunderland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 6 |
| 7. | Bournemouth | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
Sunderland were great value for their 3-0 win over West Ham on the opening day, while they dominated for large periods against the Clarets but slipped to a 2-0 defeat, and then showed impressive grit and determination to come from behind to beat Brentford 2-1 last time out.
They do not seem to have a particular weak point in the squad right now after bringing in at least one new player in every position, and simply going off what we have already seen, they may not need to spend at all in the winter window to achieve survival this season.