Sunderland transfer news: Explaining Bailey Wright's deadline-day departure - and why he's been such a key figure

Through four head coaches Wright has been Sunderland's general, dependable on the pitch and a towering presence in the changing room. Particularly in some of the darker times of recent years, that contribution can never be understated.

To let him go even temporarily, as appeared increasingly likely as deadline day entered its final hours, represents something of a gamble on Sunderland's part. Even as he dropped down the pecking order this season, he has made 17 appearances across competitions and played some part in seven of Sunderland's eleven Championship wins.

In part, it says much about how Sunderland operate. This is a club and a regime that stresses it will put the player first, reasoning that if you treat people well and with respect it will stand you in good stead in the future.

As Tony Mowbray explained last week, people of Wright's stature deserve to be told exactly where they stood. Mowbray wasn't particularly keen on losing him but also felt his path to the first team was challenging.

Mowbray wants his team to dominate the ball and defend as high up the pitch as possible, which is likely to favour the likes of Dan Ballard, Luke O'Nien and Aji Alese. Dennis Cirkin is close to returning to full fitness, and Joe Anderson has now arrived from Everton. Danny Batth has been in exceptional form all season. Wright would have been some insurance policy but Sunderland should, theoretically, have the options to get to the end of the season without any major drama.

Initially Wright turned down approaches from Hibernian, Portsmouth and others, but a shorter-term deal offering regular Championship football at Rotherham United changed the picture.

Wright's partnership with Batth, established as Alex Neil went back to basics, was one of the cornerstones of the long run that saw Sunderland win promotion just when it appeared that they were staring down the barrel of an almost unthinkable fifth season in League One.

Wright was unfortunate that injury left him starting pre-season behind his team-mates and given that there was always likely to be an injection of pace and athleticism to the centre of defence as Sunderland stepped up a division, the impetus was with Batth to cement his place. He took it and never looked back. Even so, Wright played his part and though now Sunderland look upwards when it comes to the table, there have been moments of tension in this season and the Australian was key in timely wins away at Birmingham and Huddersfield, for example.

If this does prove to be the end (and no one is saying it definitely will be), he has been a key contributor to an important chapter in the club’s history.

Time will tell if Rotherham beat the drop but in adding Wright, they've got a considerably better chance now than they did 24 hours ago. You can't pay Wright a bigger compliment than that, it's why Sunderland felt they had to leave his future in his hands.