Sunderland reporter Phil Smith has outlined the circumstances which lead Leon Dajaku to join the club on transfer deadline day.
The Black Cats recently announced that the German winger would be leaving Union Berlin to join their club on loan until the end of the 2021/22 season.
Dajaku had previously been at Bayern Munich, where he had signed a four-year deal in July 2019. It’s not every day a player associated with the German giants ends up paying his football in League One.
With that in mind, Smith has explained why his parent club were happy to let him leave for Sunderland.
While speaking on The Roar Podcast, Smith said: “They [Union Berlin] clearly feel that while it hasn’t quite worked out for him there yet, they obviously believe he’s a player of potential and who has future value.
“And from what I’ve heard, I don’t think it was necessarily a form issue or an attitude issue or anything like that from Berlin. It sounds like he just had a difficult time with a couple of niggling injuries. It sounds like he had a little bit of an illness at a bad time as well.
“So I don’t think it was one at all where they’re looking to rush him out the door. They think he’s a good player with a potential value, but they also just feel it is probably best for him to go somewhere where he might get regular minutes.”
TIF Thoughts on Leon Dajaku and Sunderland…
The German certainly arrives with some pedigree. As part of Hansi Flick’s team that won the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal and the Champions League, Dajaku made two senior appearances in his debut season with the Bayern senior side.
He also impressed in the club’s reserve team, winning the third-tier title, and scoring four goals and four assists along the way.
Life may be a little different in Sunderland to what he has experienced in his career so far, but the 20-year-old arrives with the sort of quality that could soon see him flourish at his new club.