Phil Smith's Sunderland transfer Q&A: Dayann Methalie latest and player insight

It has been a quiet transfer window on Wearside so far but Florent Ghisolfi is working hard behind the scenes to strengthen the squad ahead of a historic campaign.

In his weekly transfer Q&A, Phil Smith breaks down the latest and brings fans up to speed with where things are at...

What's the latest on Sunderland's pursuit of Dayann Methalie?

Things are looking pretty positive, but as of Wednesday morning there was still a fair amount of work to be done. Methalie enjoyed a breakout campaign for Ligue 1 club Toulouse last time out, making 31 competitive appearances and earning selection for the France U21 side. It's understood that despite interest from a number of clubs across Europe, Methalie has settled on Wearside as his next destination if he is to leave Toulouse this summer. The framework of a five-year contract is in place but significantly, as of yet the two clubs have not reached an agreement on the fee. This is significant because Toulouse are holding out for a bumper fee, having already sold young striker Emersonn to Ipswich Town for around £24 million plus around £3.5 million in potential add-ons. The Ligue 1 club are understood to want a total package in excess of that deal to part ways with Methalie, with Sunderland as of yet not reaching that level.

Sources on Wearside have been pretty quiet on the deal, which reflects the fact that Methalie has had a lot of interest all summer and they want to work under the radar if they can. Methalie trained with Toulouse as normal on Tuesday but the expectation in France is that the deal eventually happens. Let's see; Sunderland have certainly got themselves in a good position but it appears there is some work to do yet.

If Sunderland are able to get the deal over the line, what would Methalie bring to the squad?

There's a reason why Sunderland could potentially spend a near club-record fee on a player with only one full campaign of senior football behind him. Methalie had an excellent season for Toulouse and in key areas posted some of the best statistics for a full back in the division. Methalie played the vast majority of his football as a wing back for Toulouse last season, and so it is no surprise that he ranked very favourably on dribbles completed and touches in the opposition box. He's very good at carrying the ball and driving into the final third from deep, so would add something different to Sunderland's current options. Crucially, though, he's a good 1-v-1 defender who last season ranked very highly for tackles won. It therefore stands to reason that he could comfortably play left back in a four and earlier in his career, he did also play as a left-sided centre back even though he's clearly most comfortably attacking from out wide.

Given Methalie's relative lack of experience there's a clear element of risk with a deal of this size if it does go through, but the youngster has shown immense promise and the club would back their development programme to help him kick onto the next level. Following Dennis Cirkin's departure, he'd ensure there is depth on the left side of defence for the long season ahead but it's also fair to assume that he'd go straight into contention for starts.

What else are you expecting to see from Sunderland between now and the end of the window in terms of incomings?

It's clear that Sunderland are still keen and working very hard to reinforce their right wing, where Jocelin Ta Bi is currently their only natural in the squad as things stand. AS Roma's Matías Soulé has been one of the targets for that position but as of yet, no significant progress has been made. As with Methalie in the left back role, Sunderland want real quality that can immediately lift the level of the squad. That likely means spending a pretty significant fee and as such, patience to get both the right player and the right fee is imperative.

Beyond that, we know from Sunderland's initial pursuit of new Leeds United signing Tarik Muharemović and last summer's pursuit of Jhon Lucumí that the club would like to add another left-sided centre back who can offer real competition for Omar Alderete in the long run. Luke O'Nien's excellent form at the end of last season does mean that this is not as urgent as the aforementioned two priorities, but is nevertheless a clear area of focus for Florent Ghisolfi.

Beyond that Sunderland would likely benefit from additional depth in the final third and are always looking to recruit young players who can develop into first-team regulars somewhere down the line, but key figures have been clear from day one this summer that quality over quantity is the focus in this window. The club wants stability to kick on from last season and that means a much quieter window in general.

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What about outgoings?

Progress is slow but steady on trimming the squad and finding moves for those who realistically need to move on in search of regular game time.

Arthur Masuaku has entered the final year of his deal and his interest from the Turkish top-tier - it's expected that he will likely depart and that he has not linked up with the squad in the US at this stage is pretty revealing on that front. The expectation is that with more of Sunderland's World Cup cohort beginning to return to training this week and the rest linking back up with the squad on Wearside, we'll see more movement as Le Bris focuses on those he expects to have a big part to play in 2026/27.

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