da dobrowin： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
da 888casino： Sunderland are currently a sorry state of affairs.
Sacking Jack Ross hasn’t been the answer to solving their problems and Phil Parkinson has arrived to win just two of his first 11 games in charge.
The Black Cats are sitting 11th in the league and their chances of securing a playoff spot seem to be slowly fading.
Not achieving promotion last term was a colossal blow but perhaps this whole situation could have been avoided.
Last January, Sunderland decided to cash in on a certain Josh Maja. A £3.5m sale to Ligue 1 outfit Bordeaux, the striker has now scored five goals in just three starts for his club.
On Tuesday evening, he was busy netting a hat-trick and also claiming an assist in what WhoScored rated as a 10/10 performance against Nimes.
But if things had worked out, he’d still be a Sunderland player and his goals may have fired them to promotion last term.
When he left for pastures new earlier this year, Maja had netted 15 times. Cast your eyes to the current side and no one has more than five strikes to their name.
It’s clear they need firepower and they evidently lack someone with the ability he has.
The 20-year-old from London was one of the best players to come through their academy but with his contract running down, they decided to sell one of their prized assets despite promotion being on the line.
Coincidentally, after the youngster left, they failed to go up. Maja was a huge pillar of influence on the team and had lost just one of the 24 league games he featured in throughout 2018/19.
Yet, without him, they’ve been in a downward spiral. They failed to achieve promotion, have sacked Ross and now sit in a position where the same eventuality could happen to Parkinson.
It’s easy to forget that he wanted to actually stay at the club too. Speaking to Sunderland Echo, he said:
Given those words, it’s rather remarkable that he was allowed to leave so easily when he was in such red hot form for the north-east outfit.
It’s not as though the financial income they received from his sale has helped too much either. If Maja stayed and they did go up, the windfall would have been far greater than the fee they commanded. For just competing in the Championship, each team will get a basic £2.3m plus a £4.5m solidarity payment.
Even if he left last summer instead, keeping him for another half a season would surely have been worth it.
You can’t help but feel as though this was a huge mistake from Sunderland, one they could be reeling from for a long time to come.
A host of problems have occurred in a domino effect since Maja walked through the exit door and the club only have themselves to blame for their current woes.
Meanwhile, check out what Sunderland fans have been saying about Maja recently…