Sunderland played masterclass with Stewart

Sunderland are lastly again within the Championship after spending four years down within the third division of English soccer after their relegation within the 2017/18 marketing campaign.

The membership received promotion to the second tier in 2021/22 as Alex Neil got here in halfway via the season and helped them to go up by way of the play-offs, beating Wycombe 2-0 within the remaining at Wembley.

Their work within the switch market performed an enormous position of their success as they introduced in a variety of gifted gamers to spice up their possibilities of discovering a approach out of League One.

One participant the Black Cats performed a masterclass with was the signing of Ross Stewart from Premiership aspect Ross County in January 2021.

Then-manager Lee Johnson tipped him for giant issues, saying: “Ross is a participant that might be nice for us within the brief time period, however he can even develop and enhance over the long run. He’s at a great age, he’s very match and fast, and he clearly has good top as effectively, so he has all attributes to succeed.”

Sunderland paid a reported price of £300k to land the Scottish striker and he had a reasonably low-key begin to life in England as he scored three targets in 12 League One appearances throughout the second half of the 2020/21 marketing campaign.

The centre-forward then kicked on after settling into life south of the border by setting the third tier alight in 2021/22 as he fired the Black Cats to promotion.

He scored a whopping 26 targets in 49 appearances as he averaged a elegant SofaScore rating of 7.25 – the best within the Sunderland squad. His targets have been essential in them securing their place within the Championship, scoring two targets of their three play-off matches – together with within the remaining towards the Chairboys.

Since making the step as much as the second tier, Stewart – who teammate Alex Pritchard dubbed “unbelievable” – has confirmed that he has what it takes to carry out at the next stage.

Will Stewart depart Sunderland subsequent yr?

This season, the Scotland worldwide has scored five targets and assisted three in seven outings, averaging a SofaScore rating of 7.66 – a rating solely Olivier Norwood of Sheffield United (7.68) can higher in the whole division.

On the time of writing (25/09/22), Transfermarkt worth the striker at £3.15m. Because of this they worth him at a whopping 950% greater than what the Black Cats initially paid to signal him from Ross County in 2021.

His value rocketing over the previous 18 months or so illustrates how a lot of a masterstroke his signing has been and Sunderland deserve full credit score for recognizing him. They’ll now be hoping, together with his contract expiring in 2023, that he enjoys many extra profitable seasons on Wearside.