This week, ex-Sunderland player Josh Maja suggested that he wanted to stay at the Stadium of Light despite moving to Bordeaux for £1.53 million last January. The 20-year-old striker hasn’t started a game for the French side yet but has scored one goal in 11 appearances off the bench (transfermarkt.co.uk).
In the statement, Maja suggested that despite his willingness to stay at the club, the deal presented by Stewart Donald wasn’t good enough. He indicated that the club weren’t willing to offer him what he wanted.
“I don’t think Sunderland were prepared to give me what I wanted so when the opportunity to play in one of Europe’s top five leagues came up, I couldn’t turn that down,” said Maja to the Sunderland Echo.
If this is true, then it represents yet another shortcoming for Donald. Last season, Maja had scored 15 goals in 24 League One appearances for Sunderland (transfermarkt.co.uk). That sort of record could have been the difference between Sunderland missing out on promotion to the Championship or staying in League One for another year, which they eventually did.
Instead of keeping the Nigerian international, Sunderland allowed him to leave and instead brought in Will Grigg. Grigg was brought in for nearly double the fee that Maja left for, paying Wigan Athletic £3.06 million for the Northern Ireland striker. During the start of the 2019/2020 season, Grigg has only managed to score one goal in 15 League One appearances for Sunderland (transfermarkt.co.uk).
Of course, there are times when a club’s management must stay firm and not give in to the demands of players. However, when a player has such an effect on a team’s ability to win, you have to think about what’s best for the club. Maja’s goals are yet to be replaced at Sunderland Football Club. It is a decision that could have a detrimental impact on the club’s ambitions of making it back into the top-flight of English Football.