Sunderland manager, David Moyes has praised the deadline day signing of defender, Jason Denayer and club-record arrival, Didier Ndong.
Late business
Many expected the Black Cats to dip into the transfer market in the final hours, thinking that they significantly lacked in certain areas. Moyes certainly certainly put his money where his mouth is, with the two signings and deals that came very close to getting over the line.
Ndong was his seventh signing of the summer, with the €16m paid to Lorient eclipsing that paid for striker Asamoah Gyan, while Denayer has come in on a season-long loan from Manchester City and Moyes praised the late signings that the club made.
Moyes told the Evening Chronicle: “We had been pushing to bring in Ndong for quite a while, but we kept getting the message back that he wouldn’t be leaving.”
He stated to the local paper, “We like the look of him, he has good energy, he is young, he will improve with time," and firmly believes “I think he has a personality to his play."
Moyes continued on Denayer, saying: “We brought in Jason, who can play centre-half, he can play full-back - they speak incredibly highly of him at Celtic, where he spent time on loan and was named Scottish Young Player of the Year.”
He was adamant that, “I also wanted him because he gives me the flexibility to play three at the back alongside Kone and Djilobodji, which I will do at times."
Good business overall
There will still be some critics of the club's transfer negotiations after the window slammed shut, but Moyes firmly believes that he has squad needed.
“We did some good business early on to get Adnan [Januzaj] in when we did, and [Javi] Manquillo from Atletico Madrid, and now we’ve got a centre-half from Man City, and Ndong from France," said Moyes.
He explained, “That’s four players who are 21 or 22 - six including Paddy McNair and Donald Love - and suddenly there’s a group of younger players." The Scot concluded, “What I’ve tried to get is a younger group of players, to give us more energy.”
Sunderland will take on Everton at the Stadium of Light on Monday, September 12 with kick-off at 8pm BST.