Sunderland’s first season back in the Premier League proved to be a very successful one, after the club managed to be the only team to survive from the three that came up. Manager Roy Keane demonstrated in his first full season that he has the ability to manage at the highest level, as the qualities that saw him become one of the best players of his generation shined thorough. Sunderland will now be looking to consolidate on last season’s fifteenth place finish by adding to the squad with proven quality.

Until late July the summer had been very quiet at the Stadium of Light with no transfer activity to talk about. However since then and in the space of a few weeks Keane has been busy bringing new faces into the club. Teemu Tainio was the first player to arrive. He joins from Tottenham Hotspurs for an undisclosed fee. The Finnish international had moved down the pecking order at Spurs. He has several seasons of experience in the Premier League and so the move should be beneficial to both the player and the club.

Also arriving from Tottenham are full back Pascal Chimbonda and midfielder Steed Malbranque. Chimbonda is another experienced Premier League performer. The 29 year old French player has played in over 100 games for both Spurs and his previous club Wigan Athletic and he is sure to be fine acquisition for the club. Malbranque has spent most of his career at Fulham and Spurs and will add to the attacking options that are available to Keane this season.

The latest arrival at the Stadium of Light is Bolton’s former Senegalese striker El-Hadj Diouf. The 27 year old has had his fair share of disciplinary problems during his time in England both at Liverpool and Bolton. However, his quality is unquestionable and for a fee believed to be around £2.5 Million, Diouf should prove to be an excellent option for Keane in attack.

There have been relatively few players leaving Sunderland this summer. Apart from a few veterans who have not had their contracts renewed, Keane has tried to strengthen. Stephen Wright, Stanislav Varga, Ian Harte, Andy Cole have all been given free transfers, whereas defender Greg Halford has moved to Championship outfit Sheffield United.

Sunderland supporters can expect their team to move on to better things this season. Keane is more experienced as a manager and is now able to target players who have Premier League experience. There are concerns about the loss of striker Kenwyne Jones as he was their best player last season. He is expected to miss the first few months of the new season, but the team should have enough quality in his absence.

Sunderland will still need to battle hard to stay in the Premier League but there is no reason why they cannot achieve a mid-table position this year.