Every single Sunderland fan surely breathed a sigh of relief when it was revealed that Granit Xhaka has decided to stay at the Stadium of Light ahead of next season.
There were fears the Swiss would leave the club after Xabi Alonso decided to pursue a deal to bring him to Chelsea this summer.
The Premier League giants even submitted an £8m bid to sign the veteran, but it was rejected and labeled as ‘insulting’ for how low it was.
Xhaka then decided to reject Chelsea’s advances because he wanted to stay with Regis Le Bris’ club, which ended Alonso’s pursuit of his former Bayer Leverkusen star.
The 33-year-old midfielder can now focus on leading the Black Cats to the Premier League and Europa League next season as their captain.
Sunderland are holding talks to sign the Serie A striker
Xhaka is the one who signed the season in this team because he quickly took the captain’s belt and started 32 Premier League games to help the team to finish in seventh place in this division.
Le Bris is looking to build on the success of last season and is looking to find a player who will be the best player in the team as he signed Xhaka from Bayer Leverkusen last year.
According to Tele Radio Stereo, via Sport Witness, Sunderland are pursuing a deal to sign Roma striker Matias Soule in the summer transfer window.
The report says that the sports director Florent Ghisolfi is the one who leads the Argentinian team, who has worked in Rome for one year as a director.
It adds that the club has already made inquiries to hold talks over a deal for the 23-year-old striker, but did not say whether those talks were with Roma or the player’s camp.
Sport Witness note that previous reports suggested that up to €40m (£34m) could be needed to agree a deal with the Italian club for the defender.
Sunderland may be protecting their best player since Granit Xhaka
Xhaka was an outstanding player in the Sunderland team last year because he came in as a top player who was able to bring immediate quality, on and off the pitch, with his leadership.
Although Soule is not a natural leader to compete for the captain’s armband, the Roma star is a proven player in one of Europe’s biggest leagues and could make an immediate impact on the pitch for Le Bris’ side.
The three most frequent right-backs for Sunderland last season were Simon Adingra, Trai Hume, and Bertrand Traore, and none of them showed consistent quality in the final third.
|
Most goals for Sunderland in 25/26 PL |
|
|---|---|
|
Goals |
It helps |
|
Brian Brobby (7) |
Enzo Le Fee (6) |
|
Wilson Isidor (6) |
Granit Xhaka (6) |
|
Enzo Le Fee (5) |
Nordi Mukiele (4) |
|
Chemsdine Talbi (4) |
Habib Diarra (2) |
|
Nordi Mukiele (3) |
Brian Brobby (1) |
None of these three players ranked in the top five goalscorers or assists for the Black Cats in the Premier League last season, which shows the lack of quality Le Bris has in that position.
Signing Soule from Roma before the end of the summer transfer window would solve that problem for Sunderland as he has consistently proven that he can provide a threat as a goalscorer and creator on the right.
The Argentine produced six goals and five assists in Serie A for Roma in the 2025/26 campaign, after scoring five goals and providing five assists in the previous league season.
Before playing for Roma, Soule also scored 11 goals, created eight ‘big chances’, and registered three assists for Frosinone in Serie A in the 2023/24 campaign, which was his breakout year at the top level.
He has scored five or more goals and provided three or more assists in the last three Serie A seasons at Frosinone and Roma combined, showing he can provide consistent quality in Sunderland’s final third.
At 23 years of age, he still has more room to develop and improve himself and could make the leap to the next level in the Premier League, which is why this could be the club’s best signing since Xhaka.
They will be bringing in a proven star who has shown his qualities at the highest level, in an area that needs strengthening, and will also be an investment for the future in his strength.
