Sunderland recruited a significant number of players this summer but Kristjaan Speakman doesn’t expect that to be the norm moving forward

Kristjaan Speakman says Sunderland's aggressive recruitment drive this summer is likely to be something of a one-off, with the club confident that they have invested in the core of a team that can grow and develop in the years to come.

Speakman added that while not always palatable, Sunderland's exciting transfer window underlined the importance of player trading at the right time. Sunderland's estimated £150 million spend was aided largely by their very strong PSR position, which was bolstered not just by the sales of Jobe Bellingham and Tommy Watson but also of Jack Clarke and Ross Stewart in years previous.

Sunderland's sporting director is hopeful that the recruitment drive will help Sunderland establish themselves in the Premier League but even in that proves to the case, the occasional sale will remain part of the club's strategy to progress.

"Moving to the Premier League is a reset on and off the pitch," Speakman said of Sunderland's extensive summer transfer business.

"You know, it's the best league in the world. It's the most competitive, fierce league in the world. And therefore, you've got to be ready to be able to compete in that. So it was important for us to be able to make the moves we've made.

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"I think the squad composition and the players, we've always spoken, and this is where our culture hopefully will come through, and it's the foundation of how we operate, which is we've signed a lot of players we believe that we can develop and coach and improve to be better. So with those players, if you're able to do that, you don't need to go out and sign another player [in future windows]. Because Habib Diarra, for example, comes into the building and he grows with the club.

"We've always spoken about there's an end point. Naturally, you know, you see a lot of trades within the Premier League. You've seen a lot over the last few weeks. So that's always something that can happen at the outset, at the end. But for us, we want to try to grow the team. We certainly feel there's a number of players in our squad at the minute that can be part of the now and part of the future."

Bellingham and Watson's departures both came after Sunderland had tried to convince the pair to stay at the club, but the funds generated were important in the summer renewal of the squad. Speakman says that is the reality now for every club operating within the PSR rules.

"Yeah, it's really difficult because when you sit in my position and we talk about maybe good decisions [selling players], it sounds a little bit, I feel it sounds a little bit disingenuous," Speakman said.

"I think what I would like to say is we've always tried to be consistent with what we're trying to do and how we're trying to do it. And we will always believe that those decisions and that way of working would put us in a positive position. And I think like anything, when you apply a new principle and maybe a new way of working, it takes time to be able to communicate that and for everyone to feel comfortable with it. You know, we've always understood that and we've always understood that over that period of time we're maybe going to take criticism on some of those decisions. But, you know, Jack Clarke, Ross Stewart, these types of trades that we've had have kept our transfers and our squad building going.

“They're all really, really important. I think you can see that every club in the world is susceptible to trading and transfers and you have to be well prepared at the start with your contract and you have to be well prepared to be able to replace."

How Sunderland invested in the future with £150 million summer spend

Sunderland should extra flexibility in the summer transfer window, investing fees in players over the age of 24 for the first time since Speakman and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus arrived at the club. However, the vast majority of Sunderland's summer spend was still invested in youngsters with significant room for future development and with a significant resale value.

The sporting director says that will protect the club in future windows and help them grow the team in the coming years.

"Yeah, I think you have to have conviction in your decision-making on these players," Speakman said.

"So the reason we have been in good shape with the Mayendas of this world, to be able to renegotiate, is because we've gone out really early and they're on five-year contracts. "And some of the players that you've seen brought in, they're on long contracts. So we feel security. But we feel security because we've got conviction in their ability, their mentality, and their desire to keep improving. And we've tried in the squad to make sure that we've got some players that understand what tier 1 Premier League football looks like in Reinildo and [Granit] Xhaka. And then we've tried to also have a blend of some younger players that we feel can play the level, which is super important, but also have the ability to have future potential and future growth. That's just sticking with our culture that we've always believed in since day one."

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