Sunderland Are Back: Could They Be the Surprise Package of the 2025/26 Premier League?

When the final whistle blew at Wembley in May, red-and-white scarves twirled beneath the Royal Box while thousands of teary-eyed Sunderland supporters sang “Wise Men Say” at full volume. After nine seasons outside the top flight, which included five in the Championship, two in League One and two more clawing steadily upward, the Black Cats are finally back where they believe they belong. That said promotion stories can turn sour quickly; ask Luton, Watford or Sheffield United. What makes Sunderland’s return different, and could they become the Premier League’s surprise packet next term?

SUNDERLAND BEAT SHEFFIELD UNITED TO EARN PROMOTION TO THE PREMIER LEAGUE! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/frg8tb2SdA

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) May 24, 2025

Florent Ghisolfi: The Smartest Hire Of The Summer?

If Sunderland’s owners needed a statement of intent, they found it in Florent Ghisolfi, set to be confirmed as sporting director in early July. English audiences may raise an eyebrow, but Ligue 1 observers know the 40-year-old as a recruitment savant. At Lens he helped assemble the side that finished second in 2022/23 on the division’s 12th-lowest wage bill, unearthing Loïs Openda (€9 m, sold to Leipzig for €45 m) and Seko Fofana (free, later €25 m to Al-Nassr). Moving to Nice, Ghisolfi repeated the trick, landing Terem Moffi and turning Jean-Clair Todibo into a €50 m-rated defender.

His main calling card is based around marrying data-driven scouting with old-fashioned character checks, “metrics tell you who can play; interviews tell you who can survive,” he once said. Exactly what a newly promoted club needs when every signing must land.

Sources in France are suggesting that Ghisolfi will bring two trusted colleagues from Nice’s analytics department and an extensive South-American network. Expect Sunderland to scour Ligue 2, Scandinavia and Brazil rather than chase £20m “name” imports.

Business Done – And Still To Come

Habib Diarra – £30 m from Strasbourg; a dynamic, line-breaking midfielder who averaged 4.2 progressive carries per 90 in Ligue 1 last year.

Enzo Le Fée – loan from Roma made permanent for £19.3 m after he ran the Championship play-offs from deep.

Etienne Camara – £8 m from Udinese; 1.91 m defensive anchor, U-21 France cap.

Reinildo Mandava – free after leaving Atlético Madrid; the Mozambique international provides top-flight nous at left-back.

Jayden Danns – 19-year-old Liverpool striker on a season-long loan, viewed as an impact option.

Sunderland have agreed a deal to sign Habib Diarra in a club-record £30m deal from Strasbourg 💼pic.twitter.com/cIgzTbxaq5

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) June 28, 2025

Even with that impressive start, Ghisolfi's work has barely started. Club insiders confirm bids for Elye Wahi (Marseille) and Arnau Martínez (Girona). Wahi, once a €35 m Lens forward under Ghisolfi, has struggled at Marseille but still posts 0.55 xG per 90; Martínez, available for £15m via a clause, would bring the power and pace Le Bris loves. Sunderland have also explored a reunion with Lazio midfielder Mattéo Guendouzi, whom Le Bris coached at Lorient’s academy.

New Faces, Same Style

Last season’s charge back to the top flight didn’t hinge on one or two marquee names, it was a collective high-energy blueprint that Sunderland can still lean on, even after the inevitable summer churn. Yes, wonderkid Jobe Bellingham cashed in his stellar year with a big-money move to Dortmund swelled the club coffers, but the underlying structure that propelled the Black Cats up the table remains very much intact. Sunderland pressed higher than any Championship side (a PPDA of 8.6) and, crucially, did it with legs that are still here. This included skipper Dan Neil, all-action full-back Trai Hume and 18-year-old whirlwind Chris Rigg, whose five league goals and relentless counter-presses belied both his age and GCSE schedule, are still on Wearside.

⚙️ 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗱 (All Comps)

Dan Neil - 4,285'

Luke O'Nien - 4,273'

Trai Hume - 4,230'

Anthony Patterson - 4,080'

Jobe Bellingham - 3,807'#SAFC 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/lhCg2Q0Kqd

— The Wearsiders (@TheWearsiders) June 11, 2025

The arrivals of midfield destroyer Étienne Camara and box-to-box dynamo Habib Diarra mean Sunderland can now press with the same ferocity but also recycle the ball with more intensity when the first wave is beaten, which was something they occasionally lacked when Bellingham was missing at times last season. Off the left, 22-year-old Peruvian flyer Alfonso Barco offers the one-v-one threat Jack Clarke once provided, while loan striker Jayden Danns, who's managed five goals for Liverpool’s first team in the cup, is being nurtured to finish the fast breaks that powered promotion.

Why They Might Surprise

History points to at least one promoted side thriving when a clear plan meets momentum - think Brentford in 2021 or Brighton in 2017. Sunderland tick many of the same boxes: a cohesive, pressing system, a squad age curve primed to improve, and a recruitment chief who turns €10 m punts into headline sales. Crucially, they also possess the Premier League’s sixth-largest stadium, and every one of the 42,000 season tickets sold out within 36 hours. A rocking Stadium of Light was worth an extra 0.4 xG for the hosts last season which means if the atmosphere scales, visiting sides may discover the old fortress is back.

Of course, pitfalls remain in the sense that a proven 15-goal Premier-League striker is still missing, and the jump in defensive quality will test some of those stars of the Championship's end product. But if a Wahi loan arrives, and if Ghisolfi pulls another Fofana out of thin air, Sunderland won’t just be aiming for 17th - they’ll hunt the anonymity of mid-table safety. After nine years wandering the wilderness, the Black Cats are back. And this time they plan to stay.