This season, Sunderland’s scouting squad has raised their ambitions, with Tony Mowbray stating that the club is putting preparations in place to act quickly if any of their young players are lured away by a Premier League bidder in January.
The Black Cats have four of the brightest young prospects in the Championship in Jack Clarke, Dan Neil, Anthony Patterson, and Pierre Ekwah, and all four have been linked with moves away from Wearside in recent months.
Mowbray understandably does not want to lose anyone at the beginning of the year, but with Burnley having made several unsuccessful offers for Clarke in the summer and Neil reportedly drawing growing interest from at least two Premier League clubs, there is a good chance Sunderland’s owners will be receiving formal offers at the beginning of the following year.
If that happens, and they decide to sell at least one of their key players, Mowbray is convinced that a portion of the proceeds will be reinvested in the squad, hence the increased emphasis on scouting.
“Recruitment has to be key,” stated the Black Cats’ manager. “I was talking to Stuart Harvey (head of player recruiting) the other day in my office. I believe he’s taking three days off before traveling across the world. He was telling me all the nations he’s booked into: South America, then back to various areas of Europe, he’s going everywhere.
“How come you do that?” Because if we sell someone for £20 million, we must be able to acquire a £5 million footballer somewhere, not a £600,000 player from Ligue 2 in France. We must be able to improve while maintaining a solid team.
“So Stuart needs to go see some top teams right now.” Why would Stuart go see a Champions League game when we aren’t even in the competition? So, if we were to sell someone for a lot of money, that might be the market we’re looking at.
“Can we find a young player who we can develop?” Okay, we may have to pay a certain amount for him, but we may have received that amount multiplied by four for the player we just sold. They must consider all markets, which is what we are doing.”
That is not to say that Mowbray is resigned to losing one of his key players before the end of the season, but it does suggest that he is not overly concerned about what will happen in January.
The head coach is content with his hands-off approach to recruitment and player trade, and he respects the judgment of those responsible with finding possible recruits, whose track record in recent years has been exceptionally impressive.
“I don’t lose sleep at night about who’s going to buy our players or come in with bids for our players,” Mowbray said. “It’s not my job to be concerned about that.” It will be up to the owner and the club to decide whether the money being offered is worth completing a deal for.
“We may know we have a player with more potential than the player who is already here, and if we can get him for a quarter of the price that we’re selling for, and he’s actually better than him within a year, then that’s how it has to work.”
“The club should continue to grow and develop in this manner, bringing in more exciting players for the fans.” Hopefully, this is how you will expand your club. If we sell someone for a high price, I’m confident they’ll reinvest some of the proceeds in a new player. Then we’ll see if he’s physically fit and ready to join the team.”
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