"Dodged a bullet" - Pundit reacts to Sunderland's failed late-window deal | OneFootball

A Champions League winner could have ended up in Sunderland's ranks had this deal been agreed.

Sunderland came close to signing former Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita at the end of the transfer window but pundit Carlton Palmer believes they've "dodged a bullet" by missing out.

The main priority for the Black Cats before the window closed was to get a striker. They were linked to a few, but KAA Gent's Ahmed Abdullah was the one that they ended up landing.

Head coach Regis Le Bris has said that he will need time to develop and get used to things in Sunderland, but another of their late targets - Keita - certainly wouldn't have needed that same treatment.

The Mali midfielder left Anfield last summer to go back to Germany to play for Werder Bremen, who he is still contracted to.

He is now being linked with a move to Turkey to play for Istanbul Basaksehir, as per The Guardian's Ed Aarons, but he is said to have come close to a move to the Stadium of Light.

Aarons stated that Sunderland were interested in Keita but couldn't get the deal done due to issues with personal terms.

Naby Keita would have been a bad move for Sunderland

Football pundit Carlton Palmer has told Football League World that he thinks the Black Cats' failed move for the former £52.75 million player was a good one to miss out on.

"Reports are coming out that Sunderland were very close to signing Keita, who was Liverpool's former record signing in 2018," said Palmer. "He struggled with injuries which restricted his appearances to only 89 Premier League games for the Reds.

"He's still young-ish at 29 years old, but this surprises me. Sunderland like to go for younger players. I thought that they needed to sign some more experienced players, but my thoughts on this are that it would have been a really bad move for Sunderland, given the fact that he's played very little football.

"Over his previous 11 seasons, he's only played 229 league games, to date, which equates to 20 games a season. It seems that towards the end of his tenure in Germany, he refused to travel with the team and there were a few disciplinary issues.

"Whilst it would have been good to sign someone of Keita's quality - without doubt he has tremendous qualities. But I think that Sunderland have dodged a bullet on this one.

"I don't think he would have been robust enough to play in the Championship week-in, week-out. He has undoubted quality but there are better players out there for them and they proved that with some of the midfielders they brought in. They're four out of four now and are top of the Championship.

"I believe the deal only fell down on personal terms, so I think this was one that got away from Sunderland but was the right decision."

The Black Cats' recruitment has been so much better this summer. There has been a better blend of the youth-first policy that's been synonymous with them over the past few seasons and Le Bris' desire to add more experience to the group.

The early acquisitions of Ian Poveda and Alan Browne prove that. Poveda is still young but has a decent body of work in the second tier. Browne is as close to a guaranteed good move as you can get in this division.

Had they brought in an injury-prone, £40,000+ per week, former Premier League player into the fold, it would have made them look like they were panicking.

If Keita was a striker, their interest would be more understandable because that's an area of the pitch that they needed to bolster.

But with Browne, Dan Neil, Jobe Bellingham, Chris Rigg and others already in the building, there was no need for Keita, and they should consider themselves lucky that they didn't sign him.