‘In hindsight…’ Kristjaan Speakman sheds light on Sunderland’s Amad Diallo pursuit

The sporting director of Sunderland, Kristjaan Speakman, has now provided information about their efforts to sign Manchester United winger Amad Diallo.

Leo Hjelde, Callum Styles, and Romaine Mundle were the three new players whom Sunderland brought to the Stadium of Light when their transfer window came to a conclusion.

Supporters continued to express their displeasure that more could have been done.

Doing business was, of course, difficult in a dead market for most clubs, as the

Black Cats discovered during their pursuit of Amad Diallo.

The club was eager to get him back after he had a fantastic season the previous

year, in which he helped Sunderland storm the play-offs with 14 goals, several of them spectacular.

Although fans were excited when Diallo declared that Sunderland was the only team he would leave on loan, it was challenging to sign him.

Despite the fact that he hasn’t played much for Manchester United this season, they were hesitant to let him go after wide players Facundo Pellistri and Jadon Sancho left on loan.

Sunderland’s long-standing affection for the 21-year-old came to an end in January when the club refused to let him go because they didn’t want to leave themselves vulnerable in offensive areas.

Sporting director Kristjaan Speakman has recently disclosed that they were unable to recruit other targets during the transfer window due to their pursuit of Diallo.

“Ultimately, you’re waiting on player availability most of the time, whether that’s on a permanent basis or loan basis, and it ran its course that he wasn’t available, you know he hasn’t turned up anywhere else,” he admitted in an interview with BBC Sport Tyne & Wear.

“We’d stayed in that for as long as we could, and looking back, you could argue that was against potentially signing another player sooner.”

Did Sunderland need another winger?