Sunderland were promoted last month, beating Sheffield United 2-1 at Wembley thanks to SAFC academy graduate Tommy Watson’s late strike.
The Wearside outfit finished 4th in the Championship in the regular season with the wheels seemingly falling off ahead of their play-off campaign having won none of their last six games. However, they found form in eye-catching fashion in the play-offs, and that is all that matters.
Having returned to the top flight for the first time since 2017, Sunderland will look to avoid relegation back to the Championship at the first time of asking with a pattern of relegation for the Premier League’s new boys emerging over the past two years.
Boosting their frontline will aid their bid to secure future Premier League status, and amid reports of interested in Vladyslav Vanat, TaToTake has now said Sunderland are expected to make a bid for the Ukrainian Premier League’s top scorer.
The deal is worth a reported €20m, but would only be completed following the conclusion of the UEFA U21 Championships with Vanat likely to spearhead Ukraine’s U21s side.
The rumoured SAFC target hit 21 in all competitions for Dynamo Kyiv last season and started every game their European campaign.
Deja vu for Sunderland?
Sunderland fans may shudder at the news of another Ukrainian striker being linked to the club, having signed Nazariy Rusyn from the UPL in 2023 with his time on Wearside being rather unsuccessful.
There are however, obvious differences in the standard between Rusyn and Vanat. The SAFC man hasn’t featured for the Ukrainian national side whilst Vanat appears to be on course for a role in their setup over the coming years.
Vanat has featured 11 times for Ukraine, providing a different kind of attacking outlet to that of Artem Dovbyk and Roman Yaremchuk in the national side. Vanat is more capable of stretching play with his runs off the last man and in behind.
Positionally, Vanat appears to be relatively successful as a ‘fox in the box’, which will appeal to an SAFC side who may find goalscoring opportunities harder to come by next season.
Questions of standard
As a result of political turmoil, war and the gradual withdrawal of funding from Ukrainian clubs by their owners, the standard of the Ukrainian Premier League has significantly dropped over the last eleven years.
As the standard of the UPL ranges roughly from a very average European standard to that of League Two, it is difficult to estimate Vanat’s consistent and true qualities as a result of the nature of the league.
It is therefore somewhat of a gamble for Sunderland to pursue Vanat, especially in a context whereby a large fee is spent on a striker with no football experience outside of Ukraine, with the goal of him contributing towards their survival bid.
It is no doubt, however, that Vanat can develop further but he must find the right side, the right environment and be given a good opportunity to develop.
If Sunderland were to gamble on Vanat, the €20m (around £16.8m) price tag is a figure they will likely have to meet as a result of the historical hard-bargaining negotiations driven by Dynamo Kyiv’s controversial owner, Ihor Surkis, which could make any deal for the Ukrainian striker somewhat difficult.
