Simon Grayson made 10 signings this summer, but he missed out on Robert Snodgrass, who joined Aston Villa.
Sunderland have gone through a massive rebuilding phase this season, with new manager Simon Grayson signing as many as 10 new players, nine of them being from the British isles.
The Black Cats lost some of their key players – Defoe, Borini and Pickford – and they invested the money wisely in shaping up the squad, although Grayson wasn’t handed a huge transfer kitty.
Grayson says that it has been a satisfying transfer window for them, but there have been ups and downs along the way.
While Grayson has been able to land most of his targets, he missed out on two key targets – Robert Snodgrass and Max Gradel.
Sunderland were heavily interested in signing Snodgrass, but the 29-year-old forward joined Aston Villa instead.
Grayson has revealed that Sunderland had agreed everything with West Ham for the loan transfer, but the Scotland international chose Aston Villa for family reasons.
Sunderland were also interested in Bournemouth’s Max Gradel. Grayson says that they had agreed a deal for the Ivorian as well, but like Snodgrass, he chose other options for family reasons.
“We were close last week to getting Robert Snodgrass where we agreed everything that Aston Villa had, but unfortunately he chose Villa for family reasons,” said Grayson, as quoted by The Sunderland Echo.
“Max Gradel was another that we went in for and agreed everything financially but for family reasons he chose another option. That’s the window for you, it’s a lot of ifs, buts and maybes.”
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