Ex-Sunderland attacker Stephen Elliott recently posted a tweet discussing Josh Maja which has caught the attention of some Black Cats supporters.
Some Sunderland fans have flocked to Elliott’s recent tweet, in which the former Republic of Ireland international claims that Maja “should have never been allowed to leave” the club, with his claims appearing to be in light of the release of the latest instalment of Sunderland’s Netflix documentary.
Many Black Cats fans have responded to this post by sharing the view that there wasn’t much that the club could have done to keep Maja at the Stadium of Light, with one Sunderland supporter claiming that the club “were fighting a losing battle”.
Read the responses from some Sunderland fans to ex-Black Cats striker Stephen Elliott’s recent post in the tweets below.
Would Sunderland have gotten promoted last season had Josh Maja stayed?YES, SUNDERLAND WOULD HAVE BEEN PROMOTED IF MAJA HAD STAYED
NO, MAJA WOULDN'T HAVE MADE THAT MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE
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https://twitter.com/SleevesElliott/status/1245409895006027778
He was never staying.
— Sam Chambers (@schambers18) April 1, 2020
His agent was never letting him stay
— Steve Reid (@richy_choc) April 1, 2020
we had a stroppy child who packed his bags and was refusing to play, sure we could have kept him and everything would have worked out just fine.
— here we go again… (@YourePerfidy) April 1, 2020
No one forced him to leave ????
— Gary Symonds (@gasher01) April 1, 2020
I generally agree with you mate but Maja and his agent had both made their minds up. I feel like nothing would change that.
— Paul Peterson (@VoodooBrewPaul) April 2, 2020
they were fighting a losing battle… agent wanted him to move and would have rejected any offer on the table in my opinion
— Dean Cummings (@Deanospamoni85) April 1, 2020
What do we think?
Maja came through the youth ranks at Sunderland, having joined the club’s academy system in July 2015 when he made the switch from Manchester City’s academy. The 21-year-old centre forward ultimately left the Stadium of Light in January 2019, joining Bordeaux for a transfer fee of £1.53m.
Prior to leaving the club, Maja had scored an impressive total of 15 goals in his 24 League One appearances for Sunderland during the 2018/19 campaign. Despite leaving in January, only 11 players would go on to score more goals in England’s third tier than Maja did last season. The Nigeria international also finished the 2018/19 season with the best goals-per-game ratio in League One, according to Transfermarkt.co.uk.
It may be fair to say that Maja had an impressive goalscoring record for the Black Cats in the 2018/19 season. With that in mind, it may be understandable why some Sunderland supporters may feel that had Maja stayed at the club for the entirety of the campaign, he could have given them an extra push to earn promotion to the Championship by helping the club to finish in a higher position than their eventual fifth-place finish.
As it is, it seems as though there is not too much regret amongst the supporters following his departure, despite their failure to escape the third tier.