After a dreadful debut against Tottenham, Jan Kirchhoff, the £750,000 signing from Bayern Munich looked to be money wasted. He was instantly added to dreadful debut lists and rightly so, but since then he has proved many wrong with string of impressive displays in front of the Sunderland defence. These performances have helped give the Black Cats a fighting chance of escaping relegation from the Premier League.
Jan Kirchhoff: From Dreadful Debut To Class Act
Kirchhoff’s Sunderland career did not get off to a good start. After signing during this season’s January transfer window he was brought on as a second half substitute against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. The clearly unfit German endured a torrid time in Sunderland’s defence as they let a potentially valuable point go in a 4-1 defeat. He conceded a soft penalty, backed off his opponent to allow a shot to be deflected in off him and in general looked very uncomfortable for the short time he was on the field.
It was obviously not the kind of start supporters wanted from the man bought from one of the best sides in European football but Sam Allardyce later admitted that his new signing should not have played due to him severely lacking match practice. He played for the Under-21s plus behind closed doors friendlies were arranged and by the time Manchester City came to the Stadium of Light at the beginning of February, Kirchhoff was almost up to speed.
Allardyce reverted the German to his more favoured defensive midfield role and even though the Black Cats were defeated 0-1, he repaid his manager by producing an impressive display at both ends of the field. Fans were now starting to believe that at just £750,000, a real bargain had been bought. Speaking about he new signings home debut, the Sunderland manager had this to say: “He played that well that they changed to a three and tried to block it up at half-time because we were dominating them, and we were dominating them because of Jan’s quality of passing and his quality of finding space. I have to say it was up there as one of the top performances of any midfielder for any team.”
With Kirchhoff sitting in front of the back four and fellow new signing Lamine Konè at the heart of the defence, the fragile looking side slowly began to look harder to break down. Yes, clean sheets were still difficult to come by, but Sunderland were looking a far more formidable side for the opposition to break down.
Jan Kirchhoff has undoubtedly improved the Black Cats. WhoScored.com’s analysis of the holding midfielder give him averages of 3.7 tackles per game, 2.5 interceptions, 4.3 clearances, 37 passes and an average rating of 7.23. Throw in the occasional key pass to set his side on the attack, and Man of the Match performances here and there and he has certainly proved his worth to the relegation threatened side for a very small sum in todays escalating transfer fee era.
The one thing still lacking with Kirchhoff is fitness. The giant German has only lasted 90 minutes four times since signing, but if he can get a full pre-season under his belt with Sunderland still in the Premier League than the Black Cats will have one of the bargains of the year on their hands plus a call up to the German international squad may not be out of the question.
Sunderland with the help of Jan Kirchhoff, have certainly began to tighten up at the back considerably of late. Three clean sheets in their last four games have certainly helped their survival cause. The men from Wearside sit just outside the dreaded relegation places but if they can keep up their clean sheet average for the next four games then Sunderland, their fans and the likes of bargain buy Jan Kirchhoff have every chance of looking forward to the summer and next season.
