Sunderland may have narrowly missed out on promotion from the Championship this past season, but the Black Cats look well positioned to have another go should the club strengthen in a few positions.
Replacing the goals of Amad Diallo in attack is a priority, as is bringing in another centre-back after being left short in that position last month when Luke O'Nien and Trai Hume were asked to fill in.
According to the Daily Mail, former Sunderland defender Dion Sanderson – contracted to Wolverhampton Wanderers for another two years – is a possible option for a number of second-tier rivals for a player valued at £3m. The news comes amid links to his former loan club.
Do Sunderland need to strengthen at the back?
Losing captain Danny Batth to injury in April was a big blow for Sunderland, especially with Daniel Ballard also on the sidelines, forcing a rejig at a crucial time of the season.
Batth still featured 40 times for Sunderland in the regular season – only five others played more regularly – and was a rock at the heart of a defence that conceded 55 goals in 46 games en route to finishing sixth.
The former Wolves and Stoke City player averaged four clearances a game – only Ballard (4.6) managed more among Sunderland players – while no team-mate bettered his 0.8 blocks per game.
As pointed out by football reporter Josh Bunting at the start of last season, Sunderland's defensive unit is "so strong", with Batth and Ballard described as "powerful" and "excellent in the air", but that is not to say the backline cannot be made stronger.
What can Dion Sanderson offer?
That is where Sanderson comes into the equation. The Wolves defender is already well known to fans of Football League clubs, having spent five separate spells out on loan with Cardiff City, Birmingham City (twice), Queens Park Rangers, and indeed Sunderland in 2020-21.
Sanderson made 26 appearances for Sunderland in a season in which they finished fourth in League One and lost to Lincoln City in the play-offs – only last season has he played more times in a single campaign, featuring on 31 occasions for Birmingham City.
Then aged 21, he looked comfortable when asked to plug gaps and was labelled a "Rolls-Royce" of a defender by then-boss Lee Johnson, who also revealed he was hoping to sign Sanderson permanently that summer.
A move did not transpire, with Wolves instead keeping the Englishman on their books, but that could change this window as he will turn 24 in December and is seemingly no closer to earning regular first-team football at Molineux.
Wolves' loss would very much be another club's gain, especially if Sanderson can match his figures from the 2022-23 season. He ranked fifth in the entire Championship for the percentage of dribblers tackled (76.7), showing he can more than hold his own against any type of opponent.
As Brian Dick of the Birmingham Mail put it midway through the season, Sanderson is "a classy presence", and a player who is surely now very much ready to go his own way to embark on a career away from Wolves. Indeed, he would be a perfect figure to complement the likes of Ballard and Batth.