Sunderland confirmed the signing of Thomas Meunier on a two-year contract last week

After Sunderland's 5-1 win over York City in their first pre-season friendly on Saturday, Régis Le Bris all but confirmed that Thomas Meunier's arrival means Lutsharel Geertruida will not return to the club this season.

For understandable reasons, club sources have up until this point not entirely ruled out a return for the popular loanee and it was the same with Le Bris. As it stands Geertruida's future is not resolved and it's not completely beyond the realms of possibility that things change towards the end of the window. Were Geertruida unenthusiastic about the other clubs at the table or the price to drop considerably, you can never say never. At this stage, however, that is seen as extremely unlikely.

Meunier's arrival undoubtedly softens the blow for Sunderland fans, a hugely experienced defender who has continued over the last two seasons to play at a very high level. There will still be some level of disappointment, though, given just how strongly Geertruida finished last season. It had up until the final stages of the campaign been an odd loan to assess, with Geertruida actually getting a lot of minutes under his belt without getting any significant run of starts. It seemed odd that a player of such stature and experience could not get into the starting XI, and yet it was almost impossible to argue that his level of performance clearly warranted dropping Trai Hume or the exceptional Nordi Mukiele to the bench. Le Bris referred to him as the twelfth player in the side, crucially important but just unable to make one position truly his own.

After Sunderland's FA Cup exit to Port Vale, a rare chance for Geertruida to start in his strongest position, his departure this summer looked inevitable and particularly after Liverpool's move to take over his loan in the January transfer window. Le Bris still maintained that Geertruida's chance would come, and so it proved as he delivered a statement performance at St James' Park to secure a memorable derby double. Already popular with the fans, it raised Geertruida's standing even further and set the scene for a barnstorming end to the campaign. When Dan Ballard was shown a controversial red card at Wolves for an alleged hair pull, Nordi Mukiele shifted infield and Geertruida delivered three of his strongest performances to help the club surge to Europa League qualification. As the 26-year-old celebrated the achievement with supporters at the Stadium of Light, it was tempting to wonder whether there now was the incentive for all parties to reconsider what had previously looked like a respectful but inevitable parting of ways.

Sunderland continued discussions despite not activating their option-to-buy clause, but the fundamentals had not changed and even if Meunier's arrival came out of the blue, that the club essentially ended their interest in Geertruida did not. No matter how well Geertruida played in the closing weeks of the season, there is no doubt that Nordi Mukiele is the club's starting right back. The two could play together with Mukiele at centre back, sure, and an expanded schedule would absolutely have brought opportunities for Geertruida. But from a practical standpoint, it makes little sense to tie up two of the biggest wage commitments in the squad in one position where Trai Hume offers another excellent option. A near £20 million fee was not out of Sunderland's reach, but would have taken up a fair chunk of their SCR headroom for the next few seasons when there are other positions in the squad where the club currently don't have the depth they need for the demanding schedule ahead. The likelihood of making a loss on their investment down the line was of course unlikely given Geertruida's quality, but equally the chances of making a bumper profit in the way they might by signing a young winger or midfielder for a similar fee were small.

At 26, it's also a critically important moment in Geertruida's career and while he dealt with the frustration of not starting regularly well last season, he will surely now want to be the main man at right back wherever he does move next. He was an excellent signing on deadline day last summer and it's a chapter of his career he can look back on fondly, but the dynamics of doing that permanent deal just didn't quite work for either party.

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Pivoting to Meunier maintains the depth Le Bris wants on the right side of his defence, while also protecting the summer budget for those three or four core players he has regularly spoken about who will strengthen the starting XI. Though Geertruida arrived last summer after the club accepted defeat in their pursuit of Jhon Lucumí, sources always maintained that the two deals were seen as separate. Geertruida was not the alternative to Lucumí but an opportunistic bit of recruitment at the end of the window, adding a top-level player to the squad capable of playing in a number of different roles.

It follows, then, that Sunderland are likely to pursue another left-sided centre back/defender this summer and their interest in Tarik Muharemović underlines that. Muharemović ultimately opted for Leeds United, with Daniel Farke's side offering a higher fee and a clear route to the starting XI following the sale of Pascal Struijk to Brighton earlier in the summer. While Omar Alderete was exceptional last season and has a big part to play again in 2026/27, but Sunderland want depth and long-term competition. It also goes without saying that at some stage either this summer or next, they will have to invest in the left back position as Reinildo moves further into his thirties. Geertruida's quality spoke for itself at the end of last season, but in a world where SCR rules have to be considered it was just an investment that didn't quite make sense given the current make up of the squad.

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