Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman has built an exciting squad at the Stadium of Light, one which is now competing for promotion to the Premier League.
Tony Mowbray‘s side lost to Coventry at the weekend but are only four points off the play-offs in the Championship and have an opportunity to push for a top-six finish in the coming weeks.
Speakman has pieced together a squad of superb young players with potential to go along with a mix of experienced heads, with stalwarts such as Danny Batth and Corry Evans complementing the likes of youngsters Daniel Ballard and Amad Diallo.
This is a throwback to the excellent recruitment work which saw Sunderland secure their Premier League status on a regular basis in the not-too-distant past.
One exceptional young signing the club made was Lee Cattermole, who joined as a talented midfielder with potential and went on to become a phenomenal player on Wearside.
How did Lee Cattermole perform at Sunderland?
The Black Cats brought him in from Wigan Athletic in the summer of 2009 for a reported fee of £6m. At the time of the move, then-Sunderland manager Steve Bruce said: “Lee has everything that I like in a player so I’m delighted to have brought him to Sunderland. He is a terrific footballer. He is young, strong and has a real passion for the game that I’m sure our supporters will love.
“As a north-east lad, he understands what it means to represent a club in this region and will bring some real bite to our side. Lee is a great addition and will strengthen us through the spine of the team while creating real competition across midfield.”
Cattermole joined at the age of 21 and Sunderland ended up striking gold with the English enforcer, who became a staple of the club’s midfield for many years.
The warrior, who journalist Luke Edwards once hailed as “destructive” and “combative”, became a regular fixture in the team and played 22 Premier League matches in his debut campaign on Wearside, setting up three goals from midfield.
He averaged an eye-catching 5.5 tackles and interceptions per game in 2009/10 and at least 6.9 tackles and interceptions per match in each of his next two seasons at the club, which shows that he was a true enforcer in the holding midfield position.
Has Kristjaan Speakman done a good job?
Cattermole went on to play in eight top-flight seasons for Sunderland and also featured in the Championship and League One before his departure in the summer of 2019.
In total, the Englishman played 262 matches in all competitions for the Black Cats and chipped in with ten goals and 11 assists from the middle of the park.
Therefore, Sunderland and Bruce struck gold with the signing of Cattermole in 2009, as the midfielder went on to become an iconic figure in that era at the Stadium of Light over the course of numerous seasons.
