The January transfer window can be an unpredictable and desperate month for clubs. Some need extra quality to fight relegation and some to push for a title or promotion. However, there have been many occasions where desperate clubs have signed players that have done little to help their cause and it has been no different at Sunderland over the years.
Here we look back at just five Sunderland January transfer window flops. Every Black Cat fan will have everything crossed, a player from this window won’t dislodge a player on this list.
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Five Sunderland January Transfer Window Flops
Lee Camp
The 2017/18 season would rather be forgotten by every Sunderland fan. Following relegation from the Premier League, many thought the Black Cats would at the very least be pushing for a play-off place. How wrong everyone was. The season was a complete disaster both on and off the pitch.
Staring relegation in the face as early as Christmas and with chronic goalkeeping problems costing the team points on a weekly basis, Chris Coleman brought in Lee Camp on loan from Birmingham City.
He was seen as an improvement on current keepers Jason Steele and Robbin Ruiter; however, the best thing that can be said for Camp was that he only signed on loan. At fault for several goals, Camp looked a shadow of what a goalkeeper is supposed to be. Gave nerves to fans and teammates whenever the ball was near him as the club were relegated without a fight.
Relegation wasn’t all his fault, not by a long way. The club were in a desperate state both on and off the field. However, had Sunderland purchased a competent keeper, some argue that they could have earned the points needed to stay up.
Joleon Lescott
Signed by his former manager David Moyes. The pair had spent time together at Everton and was brought into the Stadium of Light in the hope of shoring up a leaky Black Cats defence.
However, Lescott, a former Premier League winner and England international, will go down in Sunderland’s history as a waste of time, wages and squad space. He joined several other ex-Everton players alongside their former boss, Moyes, as they combined to do very little to help the club stay in the Premier League.
Lescott was at Sunderland for half a season and managed just two appearances during his last payday as a professional footballer.
Darron Gibson
Another player who failed to endear himself to fans and will be remembered more for his off-the-field controversies rather than anything he did on the pitch.
Signed in January 2017, the former Manchester United and Everton midfielder would play 30 games for the Black Cats; however, few will remember the minutes he spent playing.
He will, however, be remembered for criticising his teammates during a drunken rant following a summer-friendly defeat. Later in the season, Gibson was charged with drink driving following a car crash. He was suspended by the club and two weeks later he left for good.
Danny Graham
The striker was signed twice by Sunderland and both times it proved a disastrous piece of business. The first was in January 2013 at a cost of £5 million.
In 42 appearances, Graham scored one goal, a fortuitous goal as it was a shot by a teammate who just happened to hit Graham on the way into the net.
He was employed by Sunderland until the summer of 2016 and was sent out on loan four times before eventually leaving on a free transfer.
He would return in 2020 and once again managed just a solitary goal, a strike in an FA Trophy game.
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Will Grigg
A prolific goalscorer in League One and Two, Northern Ireland international striker Grigg arrived on Wearside in January 2019 late on transfer deadline day.
The Black Cats, desperate for a striker to help with their promotion push had several offers accepted and then rejected by Grigg’s then club Wigan Athletic.
Sunderland staff and manager at the time Jack Ross advised against making any more offers as they believed that the striker was not worth the money that Wigan wanted unless they would accept a previously rejected bid.
Ross spoke to the then Sunderland owner Stewart Donald. He said: “To be honest Stewart, I know this is probably not the ideal way to look at it, but see the offer you’ve put in? He’s not worth any more than that.
“Not a chance. If you’re getting him for that money, it’s a good offer, then fine. But not the figures they’re talking about, it’s just mental. I just wouldn’t do it. He’s not worth it.”
Despite this, Donald proceeds and eventually has his sixth offer accepted. The fee being £3 million, rising to a possible £4 million. Up to four times what their initial bid was and what manager Jack Ross and other staff members had said he was worth.
They were correct. Grigg never looked like living up to that fee, a record buy for a League One club. In 61 appearances in all competitions, Grigg scored just eight times. He left on a free transfer.
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