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  • 27/05/2025
Phil Smith answers as part of his regular Q&A with readers
Transcript
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.

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