Sunderland are interested in signing Cardiff’s Will Vaulks, according to the Daily Mail.
It is not reported whether the interest is in a permanent or loan transfer for the midfielder, but with Bristol City and Stoke also paying attention it could be tricky for the Black Cats to pull off any potential deal.
Added to that, Vaulks has spent the last year-and-a-half playing in the Championship, so may not be keen on a drop down, particularly as he will likely want to prove that he is worth the £3m outlay the Bluebirds spent on him.
Sunderland have several centre-midfielders in the squad but only three have played a prominent role this term – George Dobson, Max Power and Grant Leadbitter, and with Dylan McGeouch exiting this month there is an obvious need for a replacement.
The north-east outfit have also been linked with Greg Docherty recently, which highlights Parkinson’s aim to bring in a midfielder.
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However, whether Vaulks is the right man remains to be seen, and here’s what our team of Football FanCast writers had to say about the potential move.
Matt Dawson
“Following the departure of Dylan McGeouch this January it has become rather apparent that Sunderland could do with further bodies in midfield but acquiring Will Vaulks, even for half a season, would do little to improve Phil Parkinson’s squad at this moment in time.
“A defensive midfielder by trade, he’s had an extremely underwhelming campaign with Cardiff in the Championship where he’s played just nine times. In those outings, he’s scored only once and registered a woeful pass success rate of 62%. For a midfielder that is particularly alarming, but so are his defensive traits. Via WhoScored, he’s made as few as 0.8 tackles per match while playing just 0.2 key passes per game as well. This is indicative of a player who fails to offer much in the final third or inside his own half this term.
“If Sunderland have ambitions of getting promoted, this is not the player they want – he is not an upgrade on Max Power or George Dobson at the moment. Both players make more tackles per outing, as well as producing a higher volume of key passes. More pivotally, their pass success rates are both north of 80%. Parkinson must forget about Vaulks’ impressive time at Rotherham and assess that his current form simply isn’t up to scratch. They must dodge this deal.
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Charles Jones
“I think that Will Vaulks would be an excellent signing for Sunderland.
“It may not have worked out for him at Cardiff this season, but last term he was arguably Rotherham’s best player as he contributed to 14 goals from midfield.
“Add onto that the fact that he’s already tasted promotion from League One and this is a transfer that seemingly can’t go wrong.
“The Black Cats must pull out all the stops to land the 26-year-old this month, even if there is interest from elsewhere.”
Lewis Blain
“Sunderland picking up Will Vaulks would be a masterstroke move and one that could help them cement their name amongst the true promotion contenders. It was only a year ago that the 26-year-old dazzled for Rotherham in their relegation season, thus earning a move to Cardiff City in the summer. As one of the Millers’ few shining lights, he managed to notch eight goals, the majority of which from defensive midfield, as per Transfermarkt.
“He has earned four caps since his first call up to the Welsh national side by Ryan Giggs, but to get back into the side he needs regular game time, especially with Euro 2020 on the horizon. A move to the Black Cats can help him achieve this as his role in any promotion is sure to be noted. He’s played in the Championship, won promotion from League One and has international caps to his name – can Sunderland get much better than that? Phil Parkinson could be laughing his way to promotion should they stump up the cash for him this month.”
Kealan Hughes
“Will Vaulks may have had a tough time in adjusting to a bigger club in Cardiff, but prior to that he had been a key player for Rotherham and a £3m fee suggests he has a quality about him.
“On top of that, he has four caps for Wales, and rightly so given he averaged 2.2 tackles and 1.7 interceptions per game last term for the Millers, as well as making 14 goal contributions in the Championship.
“That shows the level he can reach with regular game time and confidence from his manager, and if he was to arrive at the Stadium of Light he could provide box-to-box energy that their other midfielders lack.”
In other news, Keith Downie has provided a big transfer update that could have a big impact on the last few days of the window.
