Championship

Sunderland: Phil Smith drops positive transfer window claim

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Image for Sunderland: Phil Smith drops positive transfer window claim

Phil Smith has claimed on The Roar podcast that he believes Sunderland will look to back Tony Mowbray in the January transfer window.

Sunderland looked to have backed their former manager, Alex Neil, sufficiently in the transfer window with several arrivals under his watchful eye, however, he didn’t see it that way as he departed for Stoke City prior to the deadline closing.

That didn’t appear to deter Sunderland from the way they wished to conduct their transfer business as just days after appointing Tony Mowbray, the Black Cats brought in a quartet of young players and Smith believes that further recruitment could well be on the cards in January.

Smith believes that Sunderland will look to back Mowbray sufficiently in the next transfer window.

“We have to sort of accept that’s how clubs operate [buying young players, not overspending] so I definitely think they will [back Mowbray] and even if you just consider that they were incredibly close to signing Nathan Broadhead on a permanent deal.

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“So there’s a significant, really, portion of your budget that they haven’t used yet because they didn’t feel the right alternative was there at that point.”

TIF Thoughts on Sunderland looking to back Mowbray…

While it will have been a blow to see Neil walk out on Sunderland due to not feeling he was backed how he wished to be in the transfer market, especially after leading the club back into the Championship, Mowbray has done a stellar job since arriving.

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This current PL centre-back almost signed for Sunderland back in 2015.

The former Blackburn Rovers manager has only lost one game as Sunderland manager and that was against Middlesbrough when he lost Ross Stewart in the pre-match warmup, so he has a sort of excuse for that defeat.

Therefore, he probably deserves to be backed in some way by the Sunderland board in January, especially if he can keep them in and around the play-off spots as they are right now sitting in fifth.

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