Sunderland’s worst Premier League signings of all time

Sunderland have done remarkable business over the years in various transfer windows. However, while some of those player acquisitions have yielded good returns on and off the pitch, some have left a bitter taste.

The Black Cats’ Premier League signings that failed to live up to expectations include expensive forwards who could not do enough to justify their price tag, high-earning players who increased the club’s wage bill, and strange administrative mix-ups, which in some seasons, sent the club to relegation.

Here, Football Whispers brings to light Sunderland's worst Premier League signings of all time, taking into account the five biggest flops.

5) Jozy Altidore

Signed from AZ Alkmaar for £6.5m in 2013, Jozy Altidore arrived at Sunderland with high expectations after scoring heavily in the Dutch Eredivisie the season prior.

The American striker’s Premier League stint was a disaster despite the millions spent on his signing.

In 42 league appearances across a season and a half, Altidore scored just one goal and registered three assists. Overall, he made 52 total appearances, scored three, and tallied just six assists for the Black Cats.

For a striker brought in to ease the club's scoring woes, the numbers he put up were a complete disappointment. In 2015, a swap deal involving Altidore and Jermain Defoe was reached between Sunderland and Toronto FC.

4) Papy Djilobodji

Papy Djilobodji joined Sunderland from Chelsea on a four-year deal for a fee reported to be in the region of £8m in August 2016.

Under David Moyes, Djilobodji had a dreadful single top-flight campaign, where the Wearside Warriors conceded goals at an alarming rate.

The Senegalese defender was charged with violent conduct by The FA in January 2017 after catching West Bromwich Albion's Darren Fletcher in the face in a 2-0 loss, and was suspended for four matches. He totalled 23 games and did not score a single goal as Sunderland were relegated.

After relegation to League One, Djilobodji returned to training a month late and in no condition to play, leading the Black Cats to terminate his contract.

3) Ricky Alvarez

Ricky Alvarez joined Sunderland on loan from Inter Milan in September 2014 with a £9.5m option-to-buy clause, contingent on the Black Cats staying up.

Sunderland would later survive the season in the Premier League, but they tried to pull out of the agreement due to the Argentine's chronic knee issues, which limited him to just 13 appearances across all competitions for the club.

The Italian giants sued, and following years of appeals at FIFA and CAS, Sunderland lost and were forced to pay Inter the £9.5m initially agreed.

Dubbed as the transfer that took place inside the courtroom rather than on the pitch, the total costs in relation to the Alvarez legal battle with Inter went up to more than £20m.

Sunderland attempted to sue the club doctor who performed Alvarez's medical for £13m in an effort to recoup some of the losses, though the lawsuit (and a subsequent countersuit by the doctor) was dropped in March 2021 when the club was bought by new owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus.

2) Jack Rodwell

Jack Rodwell moved from Manchester City to Sunderland in August 2014 for a fee of £10m, signing a five-year contract.

He became a first-team regular in his first four months at the club before suffering a calf injury. Following his return, Rodwell found himself alternating between a starting and a substitute role.

A series of coaching changes due to the club's woes on the pitch did nothing to save the Black Cats from relegation in the 2016/17 season. Rodwell refused to take a pay cut from his £70,000 per week salary.

Infamously, he lacked a Premier League relegation pay-cut clause in his contract. While the club collapsed into League One, Rodwell famously refused to terminate his massive contract while sitting in the reserves. He was immortalised in the Netflix documentary “Sunderland Till I Die.”

Eventually, his contract was terminated by the club in June 2018, and upon leaving the Black Cats, he was dubbed one of the club's worst signings in history.

For Sunderland in the Premier League, Rodwell made 67 appearances and scored five goals, while recording two assists. Overall, he made 76 appearances, scoring seven goals and recording three assists.

1) Didier Ndong

Sunderland's worst Premier League signing of all time is undoubtedly Gabonese international Didier Ndong. The Black Cats smashed their club record to sign the midfielder in 2016 from Lorient, a business deal which turned out to be the club's worst decision monetarily.

Ndong was acquired to help the club steady their base in the English top flight. However, in his first season, he did little to prevent immediate relegation, scoring and assisting just once in 33 total Premier League games, and things got far worse afterward.

Following the club's relegation from the top flight and then down to League One after another disastrous Championship outing, Ndong failed to report for pre-season and posted holiday pictures from Morocco while refusing to return to the club.

For a player bought for £13.6m, Sunderland would go on to terminate his contract in September 2018 after reaching an agreement for a compensation/settlement package of €4 million, to be paid to the Black Cats when he signed for his next club, EA Guingamp.

Ndong's stats at Sunderland across all competitions show a total of 54 appearances, one goal, and three assists.