Why Everton’s Aiden McGeady Will Be A Shrewd Signing For Sunderland
Everton’s spending spree continues apace, with impressive signings Sandro Ramirez, Wayne Rooney, Henry Onyekuru, Davy Klaasen, Jordan Pickford and Michael Keane having all joined so far. (Everton.com)
This has been mitigated slightly in the last few days, with the sale of Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United and now they are prepared to eventually lose winger Aiden McGeady, with the relegated Sunderland ready to step in to sign the 31-year-old on a permanent deal.
The deal would reunite the 90-times capped Republic of Ireland man with new Sunderland boss Simon Grayson, who was in charge of Preston North End last season and oversaw 35 appearances by McGeady there, while the Everton man was on loan at Preston.
McGeady began his career at Celtic and represented Everton, and Spartak Moscow in Russia, where he played 41 times, giving himself some valuable experience. This would be vital to Sunderland in their quest to bounce back to the Premier League.
Though there is a chance of McGeady being open to a permanent move to Preston North End, he may want to be involved in the promotion chase with a more established club as he clearly still possesses plenty of ability. There is an obviously good working relationship between himself and Simon Grayson, and it’s no surprise to see the ex-Blackpool and Leeds manager trying to re-sign him.
McGeady had an excellent season last term at Deepdale and can clearly do it in this division. The Republic of Ireland international winger has only one year left on his Everton deal and with the Merseysiders spending big this summer, they will be happy to get him off the wage bill.
Their numerous signings, plus the welcome return of Aaron Lennon, mean that they were rather getting full and their willingness to let McGeady go should not be taken as a sign of his depleting ability. He still has it, as his league stats from last year display.
A hugely impressive 8 goals and 9 assists came in the Championship for McGeady at Preston and similar figures for the 31-year-old this time around may well be the thing that could send Sunderland up. The Black Cats are in a bad way off the field and have lost Pickford, Anichebe, Defoe, Borini and others. So signing McGeady would go a long way in healing those losses a little bit. Their squad may yet have a decent look for this division come the end of the summer, if they sign players like McGeady.
McGeady brings tons of experience and there is no shortage of ability. It’s something that cannot be underestimated by Sunderland when attempting to claw their way into the top six next term.