Sunderland completed a deadline-day move for Malick Fofana but were left frustrated in their pursuit of a right winger

Florent Ghisolfi admits Sunderland were left frustrated in their pursuit of a right winger in a 'difficult' summer transfer window, but says the club are pleased with the outcome having completed a deadline-day swoop for Malick Fofana.

A new right winger had been an obvious priority for the club from the early stages of the summer, following Bertrand Traoré's departure at the end of his initial one-year deal. But having been unable to convince Sporting to sell Geny Catamo and with other targets not available at the right price for the Black Cats, there was surprise from fans in the latter stages of the window as the club shifted focus. Marseille's Igor Paixao and Lyon's Fofana emerged as targets, despite primarily playing on the left where Sunderland have a number of options. There was also an ambitious bid to sign Jack Grealish, who also operates predominantly from the left flank.

Sunderland's director of football explained that having established their top targets on the right flank were not available in this window, the club prioritised the signing of a high-quality winger who could immediately lift the level of the squad. In the end, he is pleased that Fofana does that and says Sunderland believe they have sufficient options to cover on the opposite side.

Ghisolfi told The Echo: "I need to be honest and transparent at the beginning, we were more looking for a right winger. But we have always one guideline: we don't want to recruit someone just for the sake of it because if he doesn't have an impact, you fail.

"You lose his energy, but you lose also the energy around him. So we had some targets here, but if we were not able to bring them in then we prefer to do a left winger with the quality, because we know that Chemsdine can play on the right, Angulo can play on the right... So for us, this versatility allow us to sign a left winger.

"So it was more, 'okay, right winger was an objective,' but in the end it was the quality of the winger because what we needed is one winger with high talent even if see and we know the quality of Angulo and Talbi. So now we are very happy with the wingers we have."

The Echo has launched a new WhatsApp SAFC Channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates direct to your phone. Simply click this link to join our SAFC WhatsApp channel.

Ghisolfi admits that the club found the summer window challenging but says by the end they had achieved their target of signing six players having completed three signings on deadline day.

"It was difficult to be honest because we thought that we could anticipate more," Ghisolfi said.

"You have your objectives but at the end, the market also dictates. At the end, we are happy because we ticked all the boxes, but it was a difficult one, yeah. It was very difficult and the last day with three signings was tough. We're very happy with the three signings we made. Fofana was a tough one but a good one at the end. A lot of good things in this recruitment in the end."

Your next Sunderland read: Régis Le Bris delivers encouraging verdict on Sunderland's three full debutants in Carabao Cup win