Kristjan Speakman: 'I'm frustrated and disappointed we couldn't get a striker'
Kristjaan Speakman admits he is ‘frustrated and disappointed’ after Sunderland saw their hopes to sign a striker on deadline day slip away.
A season-ending injury to Ross Stewart has left Tony Mowbray with just one available striker for the rest of the season, which is obviously far from ideal.
Sunderland have been criticised for not adding depth to their squad in forward areas, and Speakman takes that on board. He though, also assures supporters that the club did all they could.
“I was personally frustrated and a little bit disappointed - because we felt we were in position to come out of the window in a really positive place,” Speakman told the Sunderland Echo.
“Our ambition was to come out of deadline day with two fit centre-forwards and we didn’t manage that.
“But I don’t think that should negate from all the work that has gone on behind the scenes by so many people to get us in such a good position. It will drive myself and everyone else to work even harder and smarter to progress and improve this team further.”
“You always set off with the ambition not to do anything on deadline day if possible,” Speakman said.
Joe Gelhradt will now be tasked with leading the line for Sunderland, and Speakman said the recruitment team were really happy with the strikers they had provided for the squad – and then the injury to Ross Stewart happened.
“Going into the Fulham game we were really comfortable having brought Joe into the mix,” Speakman explained.
“We weren’t anticipating doing another deal at that point, albeit there were other things that we were still looking at. It’s difficult I think at that point getting in a third striker who is comfortable behind Joffy and Ross.
“We were looking at some different profiles to potentially add for the future, but we were comfortable.
“That has obviously changed by half time at Fulham when we have a chat as a recruitment team and it’s clear we have to readdress it. You then have three days to try and do something.
“In that time, the opportunities there that we felt would either maintain or enhance the quality we’ve got in the team didn’t materialise, and there are a lot of factors within that. And there were some that as a club, across the board and the recruitment and the coaching staff and Tony in particular, we didn’t feel they would enhance the squad even as that additional nine.
Ellis Simms was obviously a major target on deadline day, and Speakman has confirmed they did everything they could to make it happen.
“With Ellis, you can’t rely on other organisations and so for us, we went into deadline day thinking that there were four players who we felt we had a chance of signing on loan.
“Ultimately, they opted to stay at their clubs or ultimately weren’t allowed to leave their club. Ellis was one of those players.
“We always saw Ellis as a bonus from the start of the window because we understood where Everton were at. I spoke to Ellis personally a week ago and explained that to him because of the regard we had for him.”
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