Exclusive: Luke Entwistle reveals Sunderland eyeing Edouard Michut-type transfers | OneFootball

French-based journalist, Luke Entwistle, expects Sunderland to target the French market over the coming weeks.

Highlights

French-based journalist, Luke Entwistle, has exclusively revealed to Football League World that he expects Sunderland to target the French market during this transfer window.

With the transfer window in full swing, Sunderland have already made a couple of additions to their squad. Simon Moore and Alan Browne both arrived on free transfers, and it is expected that Sunderland will press on with more deals over the coming weeks.

New manager, Regis Le Bris, recently arrived at the Stadium of Light from French side FC Lorient, and it is believed that his appointment will signal Sunderland's foray into the French market. The Black Cats have targeted this market in recent windows largely because of chairman, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus', links to French football. Louis-Dreyfus' father, Robert, was the majority shareholder of Marseille between 1996 and 2009.

Sunderland scouting the French market

Since Louis-Dreyfus took over the club in 2021, Sunderland have seen a change in direction to their transfer policy. As well as targeting younger players, the club have turned to the French market for financially profitable deals.

Having appointed a French manager in Le Bris, it seems highly likely that their strategy in the transfer window will be to sign more players from the French leagues. Le Bris will have a wider knowledge of the French market, which previous managers did not possess.

"Sunderland are very much scouting the French market for French players at the minute," Entwistle claimed exclusively to FLW, when asked about Sunderland's potential transfer strategy under Le Bris.

"It does align. It’s in a different context - the Championship is not Ligue 1, but at the same time there is going to be a certain logic in bringing in Le Bris to work with a slightly French squad. I know you never got Edouard Michut on a permanent basis, did you? Those are the kind of deals you will be going after, and it’s an interesting couple of weeks now.

"I think that in the next few weeks you’ll have a clear idea from the French market, and if Sunderland start to become very active in that time period, I think their strategy will become very, very obvious, very, very quickly.

"They won’t recruit solely from that market, but I think they’ll have more of an awareness, more of an acute awareness of what’s going on in that market than perhaps other markets across Europe."

"That seems like the plan. It seems like a relatively intelligent plan, and it seems very much mirroring what we’ve seen in France," Entwistle stated when asked how Le Bris fits in with Sunderland's model.

"They will try to replicate what the French teams do here, which is to develop players to be sold on for pretty good money, to develop the club financially, make sure it's financially solid, and then to move on from there. They are setting up a financial, economic model and a basis from which to build potentially.

"The thing is with English football, is that you can be profitable on your own, especially if you get into the Premier League. This is a model in which you can become more financially solid and make a sustained push to get back into the Premier League."

Many would argue that the French market has not yet proved profitable on the pitch for Sunderland, with only Ba proving to be a relative success in his two years at the club. However, all the Wearsiders' French acquisitions are still young and learning their trade.

With Le Bris at the helm, these players could yet flourish due to the Frenchman's notable work in Lorient's academy. Indeed, Aouchiche played under Le Bris at Lorient, and the head coach will be hoping he can get the best out of the midfielder, who has failed to light up the Championship so far.

Fans will be hoping that with Le Bris' knowledge of French football, the Black Cats can target players who will make an immediate impact on the pitch this season.