The announcement of Michael Beale as the new Sunderland head coach has been made. Tony Mowbray was fired two weeks ago, and Beale will take over as the manager at the Stadium of Light.
The former Rangers manager is coming over at a favorable moment, as the Black Cats are now sixth in the Championship league and have games remaining against Hull City, Rotherham United, and Coventry City that they can win.
But Beale’s first priority will be to address the team’s goal-scoring problems up top, and the forthcoming January transfer window provides him with the ideal chance to accomplish this.
News about Sunderland transfers: Strikers searching for Beale
As previously revealed by TEAMtalk, a number of Championship and League One clubs are keeping an eye on AFC Wimbledon striker Ali Al-Hamadi ahead of the winter transfer window. The Iraqi international is once again having a fantastic season in front of goal. Sunderland is one of these clubs.
The Tyneside team has struggled mightily this season and is currently 12th in the second division of England in terms of goals scored. On the other hand, while Mowbray’s club pushed for the promotion spots the previous season, only three teams scored more goals than the Black Cats.
Ross Stewart, a Scottish center forward, was Sunderland’s second-highest goalscorer in the previous season with 12 goals in all competitions, despite suffering a terrible injury that ended his season back in January. After allowing Stewart to depart for £10 million in the summer to join promotion rivals Southampton, the team was unable to sufficiently replace his goals.
Al-Hamadi, however, may be a terrific choice for the Northeastern team because the center-forward is rumored to only cost £1.5 million.
This season’s stats for Ali Al-Hamadi
Mason Burstow, Nazariy Rusyn, Eliezer Mayenda, Jewison Bennette, and Hemir Semedo are Beale’s current five center-forwards. But none of the five have managed to score a goal for Sunderland this year, so the onus of finding the back of the net falls primarily on 23-year-old Jack Clarke.
| Al-Hamadi vs Sunderland Strikers – 2023/24 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Games | Goals | Shots | Assists |
| Ali Al-Hamadi | 23 | 13 | 60 | 6 |
| Mason Burstow | 11 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| Nazariy Rusyn | 9 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| Jewison Bennette | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Eliezer Mayenda | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Stats via BBC and FotMob. | ||||
With a new manager taking over, Sunderland is now well-positioned and expected to finish in the top six. However, considering how dependable the Englishman is, an injury to Clarke may totally ruin the team’s season.
Clarke, who has only received one assist this season, would be able to concentrate on getting assists as Al-Hamadi would take a lot of the weight off of him. He would thus undoubtedly be the incoming boss’s ideal first choice when he takes over in a month. The star from the Dons would provide Sunderland with the extra goal they need.
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