Sunderland legends give verdict on what Kristjaan Speakman and hierarchy need to address this transfer window

Sunderland legends Gary Bennett and Gordon Armstrong believe the club need to add more experience to their squad this summer.

The Black Cats have predominantly signed younger players during recent transfer windows, including many from overseas who have previously never played in the Championship. The average age of Sunderland’s squad has decreased further, with captain Corry Evans set to leave the club this summer.

Asked if he thinks the Black Cats can win promotion by continuously signing younger players, Bennett told the Echo: “It would be great if you could but I don’t think you can. I think you need that experience, I think you need players who have been there, seen it, done it. You are looking around for that guidance as well, for somebody who’s shall we say a leader. You are looking at the team at the present moment and who is your leader? You would be scratching your head.”

Sunderland will also hope to keep hold of their key players during the upcoming transfer window, after interest in the likes of Jack Clarke, Dan Ballard and goalkeeper Anthony Patterson.

“The other issue in the summer is going to be who leaves and who stays, added Armstrong. “I get the model is to buy young players and to sell them to make a profit, that’s fine. I get that and that’s a good thing. In loads of ways it’s been a lot better in the past few years than in previous times, although that wasn’t difficult to beat.

“It has been better overall but you do need to have experience in there. It’s probably looking like Clarke is going to leave, who else is going to go? Nobody quite knows. It could be Patterson, could be Ballard, it could be nobody. I would suspect Clarke is going to go and to replace those goals is going to be difficult. The recruitment needs to be right in that position.

“Then definitely, not just one in my opinion, you need two (strikers) for them to have a good season. You have to make a decision on the other ones, the likes of Hemir and people like that to go out on loan and get some experience and hopefully be better for it.”