Sunderland have brought in Joleon Lescott to aid in their fight for Premier League survival. Another signing which perfectly illustrates the direction that the club are currently heading in.
Sunderland needed some new recruits this January, so decided to sign Joleon Lescott on Tuesday. The experienced center-back has joined the club on a short-term basis until the end of the season.
David Moyes has been trying to keep the Black Cats in the Premier League ever since, well, Moyes himself announced they would be in a relegation fight with the season barely underway. Moyes set that tone and those expectations early.
Now January has arrived, and the Sunderland boss really needs some additions to help boost morale and his own options in the first-team squad. So far, that isn’t happening. Except for Lescott, that is. A 34-year-old who hasn’t played in first-team action for over three months.
Not only that, when Lescott was last seen in the Premier League, he was struggling mightily for pace and mobility in, much like Sunderland, a struggling Aston Villa team. Even during his last season at Manchester City, Lescott was being caught out far too often for pace and movement.
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Although Lescott may never have been the quickest or most agile, he’s even slower now. Or he was when he was last seen in the Premier League. Since then he’s suffered a knee injury, had over three months on the sidelines and had his contract cancelled by sixth-placed Greek side AEK Athens.
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He wont be any better now, will he?
Lescott arrives on a free transfer, so there’s that bonus. But when the team’s left back, Patrick van Aanholt, could be on his way out of the club to a relegation rival, it makes you wonder just how the club really expect to survive.
And whilst Lescott may be way past his prime, so are the likes of John O’Shea. Whilst other Sunderland center-back options consist of previously unproven foreign players or young players lacking experience.
Sunderland have no proven Premier League center-backs that anybody can genuinely, hand on heart, really rely on week in, week out. And of course, the club say there is no money to spend. Just what you need when the club is the state it is in right now.
All the millions swarming the Premier League and apparently Sunderland were one of the only teams to miss out. And you know when there will be even less money? Next season if the club are relegated.
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The Championship offers a fraction of the finances the Premier League do. Sure there is the parachute payments at first to aid your transition. But they only last so long if you don’t make a swift return via promotion.
The signing of Lescott merely shows where the club’s ambition lies right now. They’ll spend little, work with what they have, and see where they finish. The way things are heading, they won’t need to wait all that long.