To improve its sales, Sunderland might adopt the Coventry City blueprint: View

Coventry brought in £35million on just two players in the summer and it’s done them well

Sunderland’s young team can win promotion to the Premier League, but in order to reach their goals, they might have to let go of some of their best players.
Sunderland can take note of Coventry City’s successful rebuild, which involved replacing important players and making prudent investments.
Sunderland may become the most interesting project in the Championship if they were to sell players such as Anthony Patterson and Jack Clarke and earn large transfer payments.

As Michael Beale’s team pursues a spot in the Premier League, Sunderland’s youthful roster is undoubtedly among the most intriguing in the Championship right now. However, it could be wise for them to part with some of their players in order to aspire higher.

With a youthful team at the beginning of the previous season, the Black Cats made their way into the play-offs on the last day of the regular season, but they were defeated by Luton Town in the semifinals. Overall, the season wasn’t too horrible, but Wearside is back in the area and they might as well not play.

They are now in the top half of the division and have a strong chance of winning another championship thanks to a few important players, but Coventry City, another team in the division, may be able to steal their ideas.

Rebuilding Coventry could be a timely reminder about Sunderland.

Viktor Gyokeres, one of the top players in the division, helped Coventry reach the play-offs the previous season. The Swede had a fantastic campaign, scoring 22 goals in 50 appearances across all competitions. At the time of writing, he had scored the same amount of goals in just 26 games since moving to Sporting Lisbon, which has been nothing short of spectacular. Chelsea has been connected to an offer of more than £80 million for the player.

Gustavo Hamer also had an outstanding campaign in the West Midlands. The Dutchman finished the previous season in the Championship with 21 goals and 11 assists. Sheffield United then paid £15 million to sign him, allowing the midfielder to fulfill his Premier League dreams.

Coventry’s transfer chiefs had a big job to do with all that cash, not just to replace the caliber of the leaving duo but also to use the money wisely for the future, and they appear to have done just that at the CBS Arena. Impressions have come from Milan van Ewijk, Bobby Thomas, Liam Kitching, Haji Wright, and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto. Ellis Simms is still a signing, but he has lots of time to develop.

The standings for the Championship are honest. Coventry is solidly in the play-off picture and looks to repeat their successes from the previous season, but with greater talent across the pitch. They might make a second trip back to the top flight at the end of the season, tied with Southampton in the form table over the last five games. And Sunderland could definitely learn a lesson from them in light of that.

We have already discussed Coventry’s redevelopment, so should Sunderland follow suit, things might turn out good for them. While Anthony Patterson has been connected to moves to top-flight giants Arsenal and Liverpool for a sum that has been said to be around £12 million, Jack Clarke has been linked to moves worth £20 million to the Premier League, particularly in West Ham, Brentford, and Burnley.

Naturally, this is nearly precisely the same kind of money that Coventry received for Gyokeres (£20 million) and Hamer (£15 million), and as transfer fees haven’t changed much since the summer, the Black Cats may be able to complete a rebuild of a comparable caliber.

The majority of Sunderland’s team is already youthful and gifted, which is one of their advantages. The list is nearly limitless and includes Dennis Cirkin, Daniel Ballard, Dan Neil, Jobe Bellingham, and Chris Rigg. Although Coventry had a much more experienced team, they offset it with some excellent new players, thus Sunderland might potentially reverse that.

Even at the second-tier level, Sunderland’s reported fees of £32 million are substantial; Burnley spent an estimated £23 million in the summer to bolster their roster with players like Josh Cullen, Manuel Benson, Anass Zaroury, and Arijanet Muric, all of whom were excellent additions for the Clarets.

Should they not improve this season, Sunderland might very well be the most fascinating project in the Championship if they were to spend similarly and wisely.