The resolute Sunderland and Liverpool transfer decision that could be majorly vindicated over the coming weeks

And here we have a perfect illustration of why it is a good idea to dig your heels in every now and again...

Late last month, as the January window ebbed away and everything started to take on a decidedly desperate hue, Liverpool made an unorthodox attempt to reunite head coach Arne Slot with Sunderland defender Lutsharel Geertruida.

What made the pursuit so idiosyncratic was the 25-year-old’s status as a loanee on Wearside - and one that the Black Cats could still make into a permanent acquisition at the end of the season, if they so choose. At its root, however, the motives behind the Reds’ courtship were fairly commonplace.

The Premier League champions found themselves beset by a personnel crisis that is still rumbling on down at Anfield, and came to the conclusion that Geertruida - who had previously forged a sturdy relationship with Slot at Feyenoord - was the ideal stopgap to provide them with the temporary reinforcements they so vitally needed.

For their part, his parent club RB Leipzig took a relatively laissez-faire view of the matter, essentially telling Sunderland and Liverpool to sort it out amongst themselves. And had the Black Cats successfully sourced a suitable replacement, there is every chance that Geertruida would have been away. Instead, as it became apparent that no such alternative was forthcoming, Messrs Ghisolfi and Speakman stood firm, and the whole bizarre debacle came to nothing. In hindsight, thank goodness.

At the time of writing, injuries continue to decimate Sunderland’s viable full-back options. Both Reinildo Mandava and Dennis Cirkin were absent from Regis Le Bris’ matchday squad against Fulham last weekend, and in a cruel pinch of salt to an already-smarting wound, Nordi Mukiele then managed just a dozen minutes at the Stadium of Light before hobbling off in a state of notable discomfort. His head coach has since confirmed that he will be sidelined for somewhere between a fortnight and a month.

Consequently, barring a freakish and unforeseen setback, you would have to assume that Geertruida will be handed just an eleventh league start of the campaign away at Bournemouth on Saturday lunchtime.

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For large swathes of the season, it has been hard to shake the suspicion that the loanee’s signature versatility has actually been conspiring against him somewhat. Whereas other players have arrived on Wearside and subsequently nailed down regular and familiar starting berths, Sunderland’s very own Swiss Army Dutchman has been used in a more pragmatic and infrequent capacity, bandied from one minor emergency to another like a St. John’s Ambulance volunteer, and very rarely able to stake an extended claim on his own merits.

Part of that, if we’re being honest, has been because those players who he would naturally be competing for minutes with have consistently excelled. At the heart of defence, Dan Ballard and Omar Alderete have bordered on imperious, in midfield, dropping captain Granit Xhaka has become simply unthinkable, and at right-back, where Geertruida has played more than anywhere else over the course of his career, Trai Hume and the aforementioned Mukiele have developed an effective duopoly, dependent on whichever form Le Bris’ tactical whims take from week to week.

By contrast, Geertruida’s only real chances have come when the head coach’s hand has been forced by circumstance. Of his ten top flight starts thus far, three came while Omar Alderete abided by concussion protocols last autumn (with another tacked on the end as the Paraguayan rebuilt his match sharpness), and five came during the African Cup of Nations, when half of Sunderland’s first team were on a different continent.

And in truth, it’s not as if Mukiele’s injury has suddenly created a platform from which Geertruida will be able to buck that trend either. You would still expect that, when he returns to full fitness a short while from now, the Frenchman will waltz straight back into the starting XI. His performances this season have kind of earned him that right.

But Geertruida remains the Black Cats’ all-purpose understudy, their sticking plaster incarnate, and having him around to deputise in the first place is not only a massive boost to Le Bris’ squad, but one that soundly vindicates their refusal to let him leave the club this winter as well. Just because he isn’t playing 90 minutes every week, doesn’t mean that he isn’t fulfilling an important role. Whether the player himself is entirely content with his current lot, only he will know for certain, but in the here and now, as injuries ravage and the rigours of the Premier League continue to bite, it is far better to be with him than without. And for that reason, Sunderland’s resoluteness should be commended.

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