Thanks for the memories, but Sunderland are right to leave Nathan Broadhead behind

Emotion is a tricky thing in football. Take Nathan Broadhead, for example. I am sure I am not alone in looking back on his time at Sunderland with fondness.

In fact, it’s probably no exaggeration to say that Sunderland probably wouldn’t be in the Championship without him. His late winners against Gillingham and Shrewsbury were absolutely vital.

Broadhead came up big for Sunderland when they needed him, and probably would have done even better had it not been for hamstring injuries throughout the campaign.

That is why the heart has always screamed to me ‘bring him home.’ That’s the problem with emotion in football, isn’t it? For all we couldn’t do without it, it does cloud things. After all, every other sense I have says there actually isn’t any reason to re-sign Broadhead at all.

The Everton striker is reportedly set to end his loan deal at Wigan early and head to League One Ipswich in a £1million deal. That’s telling, isn’t it.

When Broadhead was looking for a move last season, Sunderland and Wigan – two sides just out of League One – were the only Championship takers and, in all honesty, we don’t even know how serious the Sunderland interest was.

He went to Wigan, the club currently bottom of the Championship, and the club making a permanent move for him is in League One.

That probably tells you all you need to know about where Nathan Broadhead is at in his career right now, and why Sunderland are right to leave him in the past.

When you take away the memories and examine Broadhead’s career objectively, you see a player just three months away from his 25th birthday and has started a grand total of 38 league games in his career – most of them in the third tier.

There is, of course, no reason why he can’t still flourish. He could be a late-bloomer and there is definitely a lot of talent there. What he needs if that is ever going to happen, though, is games.

If Sunderland signed him, they would be in a position where they would only ever see the player they wanted if they committed to playing him every week. Let’s face it, that was never going to happen.

Broadhead wouldn’t start over Ross Stewart up front, and you couldn’t see him displace Amad Diallo, Jack Clarke, Patrick Roberts or Alex Pritchard in the attacking midfield positions. He’s not a player you would change formations to fit in either.

Hopefully Broadhead goes to Ipswich and makes a proper home for himself. He should get plenty of games at that level and a lot of chances with the Tractor Boys currently battling for promotion.

As far as Sunderland are concerned, it’s reassuring that the recruitment team are seeing it clearly and have left him in the past. That’s where he belongs. The memories are brilliant and always will be and, perhaps cruelly, he has simply helped Sunderland to outgrow him.

If we are to progress as we hope, let’s hope it’s the first of many times we are saying that about a player.

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