Sunderland battling for Jan Paul van Hecke

An replace has emerged on Sunderland and their pursuit of Jan Paul van Hecke in the summertime switch window…

What’s the speak?

In keeping with Alan Nixon in his Patreon, by way of Football League World, the Black Cats are battling it out with Championship rivals Blackburn Rovers to land the defender’s signature.

The report claims that the Lancashire outfit are presently main the race to signal him after the information of Alex Neil’s exit from the Stadium of Gentle.

It’s acknowledged that Brighton are demanding a hefty mortgage price of round £500k to permit the defender to go away for the season.

Think about him and Danny Batth

If Kristjaan Speakman can beat Blackburn to the signing of the Dutchman then he might kind a stable partnership with Danny Batth on the again for the Black Cats.

Ought to Sunderland signal van Hecke?

The pair might be a nightmare for opposition groups to cope with within the air as they each excel at profitable headers in opposition to their opponents.

Within the Championship this season, Batth has gained a whopping 73% of his aerial battles for Sunderland – together with four out of 5 within the 1-0 defeat to Norwich on Saturday.

He gained 69% of these duels in League One final season, while profitable 73% of his fights on the bottom, and has showcased his high quality within the second tier up to now.

Batth gained 75% of his headers for Stoke in 2021/22 and averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.10 – a rating solely four Sunderland gamers are presently bettering – which exhibits that he has the flexibility to be a stable participant at this degree.

The Black Cats can now discover a stable accomplice for him, alongside Dennis Cirkin, by signing van Hecke to bolster the defence.

In an interview with Roker Report, Blackburn content material creator Dan Ainsworth described the 6 foot 2 gem as “aerially dominant” and claimed that he’s “received all the pieces to play on the very prime degree and any Championship membership is fortunate to have him.”

He spent the 2021/22 marketing campaign on mortgage to Blackburn and gained 59% of his aerial battles, having gained 75% of them for Brighton within the EFL Cup this time period, and averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.00.

The Brighton man additionally gained 61% of his duels together with his head while on mortgage within the Eredivisie the season earlier than that, which exhibits that he’s very robust in these conditions – similar to Batth.

His spell with Rovers additionally implies that he has Championship expertise and is able to placing in very good performances on a constant foundation, which means that he might hit the bottom operating on the Stadium of Gentle.

Now, think about him and Batth dominating opposition strikers and bullying them within the air all through the remainder of the marketing campaign.