Sunderland: Who Sunderland should sign before the transfer window closes

With a little under 10 hours left until the transfer window shuts Martin O’Neill has been coy over the possibilities of bringing in any of the previously mentioned players (Can Fletcher, Johnson & Saha shine?).

While he admitted that the club had made an enquiry for Clint Dempsey he avoided elaborating on that and with Kieran Richardson now at Fulham, the onus will be on bringing in a replacement at left-back. The tabloids suggest Tottenham’s Danny Rose as the man to fill Richardson’s boots, while Stephen Warnock is a strong possibility, albeit not a popular one.

Of course, I want to see only the best talent come to Sunderland so here’s my list of the top three players I’d sign before 11pm tonight and why.

Clint Dempsey

An obvious choice - yes I know he’s 29 and will cost a pretty penny, and I’m well aware that he’s been pinning for a move to Liverpool. But the Scousers appear to be on a downfall in recent seasons, and who’s to say we won’t qualify for the Champions League this time around? We certainly have the talent. O’Neill doesn’t have to splash out the entire £8m in cash-offer Richardson and Frazier Campbell plus £4m in exchange. Fulham were long rumored to be after Campbell anyway, so it makes sense.

With the American’s track record in the last two seasons, coupled with the deadly attacking quartet of Fletcher, Johnson, McClean and Sessegnon there should be no shortage of chances for the native of Texas.

Jordan Henderson

The benefits of the transfer window is that it excites the fans who lick their lips at the prospect of their favorite clubs signing multiple players in one day; the cons, clubs play hardball with each other over the price of someone, knowing that they can attract top dollar for a player who, one may argue, isn’t quite worth that much.

This has affected British-born players in particular with Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson facing the wrath of disgruntled Scousers because of his £20m price-tag. That’s not to say the Sunderland-born youngster isn’t worthy of the fee, it’s just that he’s become the victim of an inflated transfer window and thrown in at the deep end of a struggling Liverpool side, who relied a lot on Luis Suarez to shoot them to a respectable league position last season. Henderson is a top quality English midfielder and will be England captain one day … one day that is.

He needs to come home where he’ll have the support of the fans and his family and can rekindle his partnership with Lee Cattermole. The advantage of his move is that Liverpool can choose to loan him out at first, with the possibility of going back a better, well-rounded player. It also gives leeway to the possible departure of David Meyler to Hull City; with Hull boss Steve Bruce already bringing in Ahmad El-Mohamady this afternoon.

Ivan Strinic

Lastly, the unknown quantity of left-back Ivan Strinic would add international experience having turned out in Euro 2012 for an impressive Croatian side that were unlucky not to advance past the group stage. At 25, it is the right age for the Dnipro defender to try his luck abroad and display his delightful attacking runs the Stadium of Light faithful, linking up with James McClean, a man his Croat team-mates kept quiet in the opening game of Euro 2012.

One possible challenge Strinic could face is the pace of the English game, with Argentine Marcos Angeleri never really adapting and proving a waste of time and money. But if there’s one thing about Sunderland, is that (with the exception of Angeleri) they’ve tended to provide popular foreign full-backs (see Julio Arca, Dariusz Kubicki, Patrice Carteron).

Calling all Sunderland fans: Who is on your wishlist today? Would you like to see Dempsey head up north or for Henderson to come home? Whatever your views, we'd love to hear from you.

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