Sunderland’s worst-ever deadline day signings – Ricky Alvarez and the £14m flop
Sunderland’s recruitment this summer has raised eyebrows for the right reasons, though it often did it for the wrong reasons.
Sunderland made Premier League history this summer with the money spent on new arrivals, smashing their transfer record.
Habib Diarra stands as Sunderland’s club-record arrival, having made the move from Strasbourg to Wearside in a reported £30million deal.
However, while plenty of optimism has been drawn from the recruitment so far this summer, previous deadline day deals have left a lot to be desired, and Sunderland will be looking to avoid similar mistakes this time round.
Ricky Alvarez – Sunderland’s legal headache
Ricky Alvarez joined Sunderland on loan on deadline day back in 2014, and on the face of it, it seemed to be an excellent pickup.
He featured regularly for Inter Milan before moving to Wearside, which is where the downfall started.
The Argentine made just 13 league appearances for the Black Cats as a result of a serious knee injury, for which Sunderland wanted him to undergo surgery.
Inter Milan interfered and ultimately prevented the surgery from happening, and Alvarez would go on to miss most of the season.
- Joined on loan from Inter on 1 September 2014
- Suffered injury on second start
- Made just 13 appearances
- Permanent clause was triggered
- Legal discussions begin
However, Sunderland had an obligation to buy in his loan contract, which ultimately saw a £9m transfer to the Stadium of Light on a permanent basis.
Sunderland put a case forward as to why they shouldn’t have had to trigger the clause due to his injury, resulting in several legal issues that lasted years.
In 2017, FIFA ordered Sunderland to pay the transfer fee, and two years later were forced to pay Alvarez a further £4m in damages, with the total financial damage coming in at around £20m.
Jayden Danns – What a waste of time
Just under seven months ago, Sunderland were in the market for a new striker, and all attempts failed, which led them to Jayden Danns.
The Liverpool youngster joined on loan until the end of the season, and his contributions will certainly be forgotten.
Almost immediately after signing, Sunderland were made aware of back issues for Danns, which were thought to rule him out for a few weeks.
Those few weeks quickly turned into a few months, and before we knew it, the season was over and Sunderland had achieved promotion back to the Premier League.
Danns, however, failed to make a single appearance for the Black Cats as a result of his injury troubles.
Sunderland were linked with Danns again this summer, though it became apparent fairly quickly that nothing was going to come of that.
Didier Ndong – Sunderland’s former record signing
In their previous Premier League days, Sunderland’s recruitment was rather safe and certainly prioritised signings within England.
So, when a Gabonese midfielder from Ligue 1 joined the Black Cats, optimism levels were high, and intrigue was coursing through the veins of everyone on Wearside.
Didier Ndong joined Sunderland from Lorient for a fee in the region of £14m, which at the time, made him their most expensive signing ever.
His first campaign at the Stadium of Light was fairly promising, with his goal against Crystal Palace a clear highlight.
However, it turned sour when relegation was confirmed.
- Joined from Lorient in a club-record deal in the Premier League
- Suffered back-to-back relegations
- Left for nothing
After some time, Ndong went AWOL, refused to play and ended up moving to Watford on loan, where he would fail to make an appearance.
Ndong then failed to return to Sunderland the following summer, after another relegation, resulting in his contract being terminated.
A very expensive failure.
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