As recently as November, it was suggested that Sunderland might have secured Luciano Rodriguez if the Championship club paid roughly £3.5 million.
Three months later, and with HITC Football informed that Manchester City, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, and Wolves are now interested in the 20-year-old Uruguayan, the Black Cats’ chances of luring Rodriguez to Wearside appear to have evaporated as quickly as Mick Beale’s hopes of winning over a more-than-sceptical fanbase.
With neither Nazariy Rusyn, Mason Burstow, nor Hemir able to follow in Ross Stewart’s footsteps, Sunderland, who are more reliant than ever on Jack Clarke’s rabbit-out-of-the-hat magic, have been left lamenting their inability to bring in a centre-forward capable of scoring goals reliably at Championship level.
Sunderland struggling for goals and wins
Only Bristol City in the division’s top half has less goals than Sunderland, with Tony Mowbray’s dismissal being largely due to a proclivity for squandering clear-cut scoring opportunities. Not to mention the widening gap between the Black Cats and the playoff positions.
How Sunderland, now on their third head coach of the season in interim manager Mike Dodds, may benefit from a forward capable of scoring ‘a goal out of nowhere’.
That was how Dennis te Kloese, the director of Eredivisie champions Feyenoord, described Luciano Rodriguez when the Rotterdam giants were on the verge of signing him in January for over £10 million more than Sunderland were supposedly quoted a few weeks prior.
“A player who can score a goal out of nowhere,” Te Kloese told ESPN before the talks broke down. “He’s a right winger who can also play striker.” Rodriguez also has an excellent shot.”
Man City and Chelsea eyeing ‘Uruguayan Mbappe’
With 10 goals and six assists last season for Liverpool FC (the Merseyside giants’ Uruguayan namesakes) and a promising start to the new 2024 season, Rodriguez’s unsuccessful move to Feyenoord looks like a postponement of the inevitable.
The 20-year-old plans to leave his hometown in the near future. It’s only a matter of when, where, and how much.
If England is his destination – Nottingham Forest, Wolves, Chelsea, and even Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning Manchester City side are keeping an eye on him following the success of fellow South American Julian Alvarez – a forward dubbed the ‘Uruguayan Mbappe’ due to his blistering pace and eye for goal may soon become another source of frustration for an already disillusioned Sunderland fanbase.
