Sunderland’s top-valued trio miss out on Premier League most valuable XI | OneFootball

Sunderland’s strong return to the Premier League has sharpened focus on squad value, yet Sunderland’s top-valued trio, per TransferMarkt, do not feature in the division’s most valuable XI. Regis Le Bris’ side host Crystal Palace on Saturday sitting just three points off the top five.

The Black Cats opened with a comfortable home win against West Ham United, then took 11 points from their first six games. Their first defeat came at Manchester United, before eye-catching wins over Chelsea and Newcastle United and hard-earned points against Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool over the last two months.

Last week’s reverse at Brentford was a setback, but the mood on Wearside remains buoyant. Le Bris and his players are aiming to keep impressing and to push towards the top six in the second half of the campaign.

Summer signings Habib Diarra and Noah Sadiki, along with Academy of Light graduate Chris Rigg, are the highest valued players in the squad. Even so, they miss out on the Premier League’s most valuable XI.

Diarra drew interest from Leeds in the summer, but not at the Sunderland club-record £30m required to prise him from Strasbourg. The 21-year-old has been out since September with a groin injury sustained in training, yet he was still named in Senegal’s African Cup of Nations squad and will link up once his rehabilitation at the Academy of Light is complete.

Source: Sunderland Echo