Sunderland rounded off their pre-season preparations with a 2-1 victory over Ligue 1 side Rennes at the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon.
Goals from Trai Hume and Brian Brobbey secured the win for Regis Le Bris‘ side, who are now gearing up to face Ipswich Town in their opening game of the Premier League campaign.
The Black Cats are preparing to deal with both Premier League and Europa League football this season, yet they have only added one new player to their squad so far, Thomas Meunier.
Left-back Dayann Methalie is due to arrive in a £30m deal from Toulouse, but Sunderland still need to strengthen their options at the other end of the pitch.
The position Sunderland most need to strengthen in
Despite scoring two goals and beating Rennes on Saturday, the Premier League side need to add more quality to their attack before the end of the summer transfer window.
Le Bris will hope that Brobbey can kick on from last season after he scored seven Premier League goals, whilst attacking midfielder Enzo Le Fee showed his quality with five goals and six assists in the division.
However, the Black Cats lacked consistent quality in the wide positions throughout the campaign, which contributed to them only scoring 42 goals in 38 matches as a team.
|
Sunderland in 25/26 Premier League |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Winger |
Goals |
Assists |
|
Chemsdine Talbi |
4 |
1 |
|
Bertrand Traore |
1 |
0 |
|
Simon Adingra |
1 |
0 |
|
Jocelin Ta Bi |
0 |
0 |
|
Romaine Mundle |
0 |
0 |
|
Nilson Angulo |
0 |
0 |
Chemsdine Talbi was the only winger in the squad who scored more than one goal and who registered a single assist, and he only produced five goal contributions in 30 appearances in all competitions.
These statistics show that the club should be in the market to add more quality to the manager’s options on the flanks, whether that is on the right or the left, to provide him with more consistent quality in the final third this season.
Sunderland considering move for Talbi upgrade
Despite being the outstanding performer amongst wingers on Wearside last term, Talbi could find his position under threat if the club secure a deal for their latest target.
According to German outlet BILD, Sunderland are eyeing up a possible move to sign Bayer Leverkusen winger Ernest Poku in the summer transfer window.
The report claims that Le Bris is weighing up a transfer swoop for the Dutch attacker and is yet to make a final decision on whether or not to make an approach.
It adds that the 22-year-old talent is one of the players who could leave the Bundesliga side as they look to reduce the size of their squad, and that it will take a fee in the region of £21m to strike an agreement for his services.
Given the aforementioned struggles that the team had at the top end of the pitch in the wide areas in the Premier League last season, Le Bris should decide to press ahead with a swoop to sign the Dutchman before the end of the window.
Poku’s form for Leverkusen in the Bundesliga in the 2025/26 campaign suggests that he would arrive at the Stadium of Light as a player who is a class above Talbi on the left flank.
|
25/26 season |
Poku (BL) |
Talbi (PL) |
|---|---|---|
|
Appearances |
29 |
28 |
|
xG |
3.05 |
2.13 |
|
Goals |
5 |
4 |
|
Big chances created |
4 |
0 |
|
xA |
4.35 |
1.19 |
|
Assists |
5 |
1 |
|
Successful dribbles per game |
1.0 |
0.6 |
The £21m-rated attacker produced twice as many goal contributions as Talbi, despite only starting 16 times in the Bundesliga, and could have more to offer the Black Cats as both a scorer and a creator of goals.
Poku racked up five goals and nine assists in all competitions for Leverkusen, compared to the Moroccan’s four goals and one assist, and would provide Le Bris with the quality that he lacked out wide last term.
Le Fee, with six goals and six assists, was the only Sunderland player in any position to reach double figures for goal contributions in the 2025/26 campaign, which speaks to how much of a boost the arrival of Poku would be on Wearside.
The Dutchman is a winger who can provide consistent quality with both goals and assists, making him a valuable attacking asset, and that is why he is worth paying £21m for this summer.
Prior to signing for Leverkusen last year, Poku also scored 17 goals and provided ten assists in his final two seasons with AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, which shows that his form last term in Germany was not just a flash in the pan.
The 22-year-old star would be a class above Talbi, who failed to deliver consistent quality last season, and be the upgrade that Sunderland need out wide.