Sunderland’s AFCON Conundrum: Who Steps Up?

There are six Sunderland players leaving for the African Cup of Nations — including both key and fringe players — but who should replace whom?

Left back: Trai Hume versus Dennis Cirkin?

Reinildo’s absence is the first major blow.

Aside from his moment of madness against Aston Villa, he’s been almost faultless, with valiant defending and rapid attacking. He’s been a terrific signing, especially since we got him on a free.

In terms of replacements, we have a couple of options. Dennis Cirkin is waiting in the wings after returning from injury. He’s be a like-for-like replacement but is unproven at Premier League level, and Trai Hume could also fill in at left back.

He’s played there in the past and has never seemed too out of place, but ultimately isn’t a “natural” left back. To my knowledge, those are the main two options and from them, I think Régis Le Bris will go for Hume. He loves his “team connections” and Hume has been much closer to the first team so far this season.

There’s no doubt that Cirkin will be on the bench, ready to help the team.

No Sadiki — but who slots into midfield?

Noah Sadiki is another player who’s been excellent so far this season.

He’s been everywhere for us this season, giving rise to the tagline “70% of the Earth is covered by water, the other 30% is covered by Sadiki”. He’s been integral to our success so far and will be a big miss, but in terms of replacements, I think Le Bris will turn to Lutsharel Geertruida.

The Leipzig loanee has featured a lot for us so far this season, but not normally in midfield. He has and can play there, and I think his physicality and ball control will work as a good substitute for Sadiki. Dan Neil will be ready on the bench to take his chance — and I’d like to see him get some minutes during this busier period.

Two wingers down, so step forward Simon Adingra?

Bertrand Traoré and Chemsdine Talbi will also be unavailable for a period.

They’ve both broken in well to the first team since the start of the season, so I’m sad to see them go. Traoré appears to be the first choice right winger and Le Bris clearly loves him. He’s been very good so far and has impressed myself and a lot of fans after a questionable start. Talbi has started a lot of games for us too, and even when he is on the bench, he’s been either the first or second substitution.

We’ll definitely miss his injection of pace and skill but in terms of options, there are a few.

Adingra has started to come back into the fold and will definitely be needed during this time. He’s normally a left winger due to his right-footedness, but can definitely play on the right too. Chris Rigg can also play on the right, doing a good job on multiple occasions last year — including starting on the right wing in the playoff final.

I’d also love to see Eliezer Mayenda get a bit more time.

He’s also been seen to play off the right (although not too successfully), whereas Wilson Isidor has also been known to play off of the left, finding joy when cutting in onto his right foot. With Brian Brobbey starting the last couple of games, it could be a good opportunity for Isidor to keep ticking over and get back amongst the goals.

I believe that Le Bris will favour Adingra and Isidor, but I’m also confident in Rigg and Mayenda performing well if given the chance.

The argument for and against Habib Diarra’s call up

Diarra and Arthur Masuaku are also away on international duty, albeit in less effective circumstances.

Diarra has been out injured for a few months after muscle surgery — a real shame after a strong pre-season and good start to the Premier League campaign. However, after recovering from this injury in recent weeks, Senegal are free to call him up, which I find totally ridiculous, to be honest.

After only just recovering from a serious injury, he should be continuing his rehabilitation at our top class facilities, not flying off to Morocco and being thrown into tournament football.

I do understand that there isn’t much that Sunderland can do to prevent him going, whereas Masuaku is less of a miss. He’s featured in only three games so far and was axed from the squad after our defeat at Fulham. There are even reports of Sunderland wanting to move him on in January, so I’m not too heartbroken about his absence.

Taking everything into account, the risk has paid off.

Every club in the league knew of the impact that AFCON would have this season, meaning that African players would’ve been slightly cheaper in the transfer market. Sunderland took the risk of signing these players in the hope they would help us achieve a good points tally before they left — which is exactly what they’ve done.

In conclusion…

In the grand scheme of things, it might not be that bad.

The final is on Sunday 18 January, and there are seven games between now and then. Morocco and Senegal — whom Talbi and Diarra represent respectively — are good teams who will most likely make it well into the tournament.

However, Mozambique (Reinildo), Burkina Faso (Traoré) and DR Congo (Sadiki and Masuaku) are lesser teams, who’ll hopefully be knocked out as soon as possible, with these players returning to Sunderland.

Overall, there are pros and con to AFCON hitting us.

On a positive note, it gives some players a great opportunity to impress and get some more minutes under their belt — and I especially hope some of the lads who helped us earn promotion last year will get their opportunity. On a negative note, we’ll be missing some key players who have been brilliant so far this season and it’ll be a big test and interesting to see how we get on without them.

Regardless of who is or isn’t here, I have full trust in both the management and the squad to step up and keep the ball rolling during this packed schedule. Who do you think should be picked as replacements for our missing African stars?