Sunderland have dipped into the transfer market once again by signing QPR’s Josh Scowen, the club confirmed on Monday night.
What’s the word?
The Black Cats have been chasing a midfielder for the last couple of weeks and were linked with a host of names, including Ollie Norburn, Will Vaulks and Greg Docherty.
It is not clear who Phil Parkinson’s priority was but Stewart Donald has decided to back his manager by providing the funds to get the Scowen deal over the line, with the 26-year-old arriving for an undisclosed fee.
The former Barnsley man had just six months left to run on his contract, however, with 10 starts this term, so it is unlikely that Sunderland broke the bank to bring him in.
Watch Sunderland Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below
Is he an upgrade?
Parkinson’s determined pursuit for a new midfield addition was the right course of action to take given Sunderland’s shortage of options in the middle of the pitch, which reduced further when Dylan McGeoch departed for Aberdeen earlier this month.
With 136 Championship appearances to his name Scowen is an improvement on the Scot who didn’t play at that level, but whether he can act as an upgrade on the two main starters – Max Power and George Dobson – remains to be seen.
The biggest concern is that Scowen doesn’t provide an attacking threat, and that is really what the north-east outfit need considering Dobson and Power have offered four goal contributions combined.
By comparison, the former R’s player has scored one and assisted one this term, taking his total for the West London club to four goals and four assists in 106 appearances.
For away day veterans only: Can you name all of these defunct stadiums?
He does provide a bit of defensive cover with 1.6 tackles per game, but that ranks lower than Dobson’s 2.6 tackles per game and he doesn’t have the creativity or skill to make up for it, with 0.3 key passes and 0.1 dribbles per league game this term contributing to an average rating of 6.2, as per WhoScored.
The positive is that he is dropping down a division and playing against weaker opposition could enable Scowen to express himself more easily, while he also has a promotion from League One on his CV from his time at Barnsley.
However, his inability to provide attacking flair shows this could be a mistake from Parkinson.
In other transfer news, Sunderland have targeted the loan signing of a player from a Premier League club.
