It’s truthful to say that it has been an thrilling summer season for Sunderland since they beat Sheffield United at Wembley to earn promotion to the Premier League.
The Black Cats haven’t messed about in the summertime switch window, as they’ve splashed the money to enhance the choices at Regis Le Bris’ disposal.
Presumably essentially the most notable addition of the window thus far has been the signing of skilled midfielder Granit Xhaka from Bayer Leverkusen for a price of £13m.
The Switzerland worldwide has performed over 200 video games within the Premier League, over 100 matches within the Bundesliga, and over 30 occasions within the Champions League, per Transfermarkt, and the Black Cats are actually on the verge of touchdown a equally high-profile signing.
Sunderland set to signal Paris Saint-Germain defender
In keeping with Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg, Sunderland have reached an settlement to carry Paris Saint-Germain defender Nordi Mukiele to the Stadium of Mild.
The journalist claims that the 27-year-old is now closing in on a transfer to Wearside with ‘rapid impact’, and notes that he might be reunited with Xhaka after taking part in alongside him final season.
Fabrizio Romano provides that Mukiele has already stated ‘sure’ to a transfer to Sunderland, which means that there is probably not many issues with private phrases.
If the Black Cats can get this deal over the road within the coming hours, the membership might have an thrilling repeat of their Xhaka masterclass on their arms.
Why Mukiele is a Xhaka repeat for Sunderland
The brand new Sunderland captain arrived to a lot fanfare as a vastly skilled and well-known identify in European soccer, notably in England, and Mukiele can be an identical signing.
Though he doesn’t have the identical status in England, the France worldwide is a widely known identify to anybody who has stored up with European soccer previously 5 years or so, as he has starred for RB Leipzig, Paris Saint-Germain, and Bayer Leverkusen.
Nordi Mukiele’s membership profession | ||
|---|---|---|
Competitors | Appearances | Targets + assists |
Bundesliga | 115 | 19 |
Ligue 1 | 85 | 4 |
Champions League | 35 | 5 |
Ligue 2 | 34 | 4 |
Europa League | 7 | 0 |
Stats through Transfermarkt | ||
As you may see within the desk above, Mukiele has loads of expertise on the prime degree, with 200 appearances in two of the highest 5 leagues in Europe in his profession up to now.
Sky Sports activities contributor Dougie Critchley describes the versatile star, who can play at right-back or centre-back, as a “dominant” defender and a “Champions League degree participant”, like Xhaka.
These feedback and his statistics all through his profession present that Sunderland are on the verge of signing a vastly skilled participant who has confirmed himself on a few of the greatest levels in Europe, as was the case once they signed Xhaka from Leverkusen.
Mukiele performed 15 occasions within the Bundesliga for Leverkusen within the 2024/25 marketing campaign and showcased his dominant defensive work by profitable 67% of his floor duels and making 2.3 tackles and interceptions per sport, as per Sofascore.
This implies that he can be an aggressive, sturdy, and skilled possibility for Le Bris to name upon at right-back or centre-back within the Premier League, given his performances within the German top-flight final time period.
His expertise on the prime degree and up to date shows within the Bundesliga recommend that he won’t be phased by what the Premier League will throw at him week-in-week-out, in the identical method that the extremely skilled Xhaka can be a reliable determine in midfield.
Subsequently, this might be one other thrilling and spectacular piece of recruitment work performed by the Black Cats of their try and construct a workforce that won’t look out of their depth within the top-flight.
