Sunderland fans would have been expecting to see their side put Plymouth Argyle to the sword last time out with the Pilgrims deep in a relegation battle in the Championship.
Instead, the final outcome was a dramatic 2-2 draw as the lowly visitors from Devon showed more fight and quality than Regis Le Bris’ men would have anticipated heading into the clash.
Whilst Wilson Isidor did score in this action-packed affair, the Black Cats look to still be on the hunt for a new potent striker addition before the transfer window closes, with the Frenchman potentially unearthing his own personal Ross Stewart in the process.
Ross Stewart's heroics at Sunderland
The Black Cats seriously struggled last season in the wake of Stewart no longer being around, as their top scorer for the season ended up being Jack Clarke with 15 strikes despite the now Ipswich Town man lining up as a winger.
This campaign, it could be argued that an exciting striker has finally been picked up in the form of Isidor, but the Zenit St Petersburg loanee has still managed to squander an eye-watering 14 big chances in league action – including missing two penalties away at Burnley. Despite that, he has still scored nine times in 26 contests.
On the contrary, during Stewart’s final fit campaign donning Sunderland red and white, the impressive Scotsman managed to fire home a far more impressive 26 strikes in total, with his mammoth amount of big chances missed coming in at 23 ultimately forgotten about.
From 13 league games the season after – even when battling with injury difficulties – Stewart also managed to fire home a ridiculous ten strikes, with Le Bris wanting a similarly lethal attacker in the 28-year-old’s mould in the here-and-now away from the sometimes hot-and-cold presence of Isidor.
Sunderland pushing for EFL goal machine
As per a recent report from French outlet Foot Mercato, Sunderland are pushing to sign Ajax centre-forward Chuba Akpom this window in a bid to bolster their striker options.
Both Lille and Lens from Ligue 1 are interested in the ex-Arsenal youth product too, with the Dutch media giving their own take on this ongoing transfer saga as Algemeen Dagblad – as has been relayed by Sport Witness – state that Akpom has ‘no interest’ in uprooting to Sunderland away from Amsterdam.
But, Akpom could well still be convinced to return to English shores if he is seeking out a confidence boost in front of goal, having only fired home three Eredivisie strikes during 2024/25 to date away from his previous heroics in the Championship.
After all, when he was last succeeding at the level, the 29-year-old was toying with second-tier defences when pulling on a Middlesbrough strip, as a second-tier golden boot even proudly came his way. Such remarkable form saw Michael Carrick describe the forward as a “terrific” player.
Games played
38
Goals scored
28
Assists
2
Shots*
2.6
Scoring frequency
111 mins
Big chances missed
17
Big chances created
2
Looking at the table above, it’s clear why Akpom has been chosen as one of Sunderland’s transfer priorities up top with the 6-foot striker helping himself to an unbelievable 28 strikes from 38 league games during 2022/23, which then led to his major move to Ajax.
Those sorts of numbers have not been seen at the Stadium of Light since the fruitful days of Stewart, with Akpom’s arrival onto the scene surely seeing Isidor take a back-seat for the new recruit to shine.
Whilst the 29-year-old does sound as if he will need some convincing to relocate, Sunderland should go all out to try and snap up the Ajax number ten, as Le Bris goes about adding in more quality to aid his team’s promotion chances.
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