It's a winning method, with Speakman supplying a group that Alex...

Kristjaan Speakman, Sunderland’s sporting director, was appointed in December 2020. Here, we rank each of his new arrivals to the club.

The former Birmingham City man has supervised a major makeover of the club’s playing group during his time at the Academy of Light, with the Wearsiders focusing on their academy and buying young players to be groomed and blooded in the first team.

It’s a winning method, with Speakman supplying a group that Alex Neil masterfully turned into promotion winners following Lee Johnson’s underachievement.

However, like with every recruitment approach, there are advantages and disadvantages. Some have criticized Speakman for not giving Sunderland with enough depth, citing injuries to Ross Stewart and the recall of Ellis Simms, which left Tony Mowbray without any senior forwards for much of last season.

However, in this section, we go over every signing sanctioned by Speakman since his arrival at the club and rate them from one to 10.

We haven’t included Mason Burstow, Nazariy Rusyn, Jenson Seelt, Eliezer Mayenda, Timothee Pembele, and Adil Aouchiche because they haven’t played enough for the club yet, and we haven’t included youth squad acquisitions like Timur Tuterov.

1. safc and wafc Speakman, Kristjaan
Kristjaan Speakman, Sunderland’s sporting director

Ross Stewart is number two.

Lee Johnson saw the huge striker on the recommendation of Brian McDermott and brought him to Sunderland as Charlie Wyke’s successor. Stewart was a fantastic addition who propelled Sunderland to the Championship before being sidelined by injury and eventually leaving for large money to join Southampton. The Black Cats made a substantial profit. However, there is sorrow that the two parties were unable to reach an agreement on a new deal.

Winchester, Carl

After being poached from Forest Green Rovers, Winchester proved to be a good purchase for Sunderland. Lee Johnson was also familiar with another athlete. “Winniesta” was instrumental in Sunderland’s promotion, putting in tough efforts in midfield, right back, and right centre-back. Carl Winchester is a player that every team needs.

Jordan Jones 4

Produced some high-quality moments but lacked consistency and was part of a team that failed to advance during his six-month loan stay. The reasoning for the transfer seemed obvious, but it didn’t quite work out in the end.