Premier League 2026-27 preview No 19: Sunderland
Sunderland, managed by Régis Le Bris, are the subject of the No 19 instalment in the Premier League 2026-27 preview series published on 20 August 2026; the club enters the new season fresh from a seventh-place finish in 2025-26 and preparing for European competition. The piece examines expectations, squad makeup and off-field changes as Sunderland balance domestic duties with a first continental campaign since 1973-74.
After finishing seventh last season Sunderland face the 2026-27 campaign while engaged in continental combat for the first time since a brief Cup Winners’ Cup adventure in 1973-74. Opta Guardian writers’ tips average to a predicted 14th-place finish, and commentators noted Sunderland’s relegation-level expected-goals numbers from 2025-26 while also pointing out the squad lost six players to the Africa Cup of Nations during the winter. No key player has been sold this summer, pre-season performances have been described as reassuringly convincing and Le Bris has said coping with Thursday night football will be a challenge to be enjoyed rather than feared. Granit Xhaka remains captain after recommitting to the club despite reported serious interest from Chelsea, and the squad features Enzo Le Fée, Chris Rigg, Robin Roefs, Noah Sadiki and Nordi Mukiele among several versatile options.
Sunderland are majority-owned by Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, a 29-year-old Swiss-French businessman and trust fund billionaire with a 64% stake, while the remaining 36% is held by Uruguayan businessman and politician Juan Sartori. Director of football Florent Ghisolfi has built a strong relationship with Le Bris that the club credits with helping on-pitch stability, even as several key executives were replaced over the past year amid a commercial strategy pivot towards international markets. The team toured the United States this summer, the club has concentrated marketing efforts on Africa and a front-of-shirt sponsorship with Visit Ghana is reported as close to being finalised and has proved controversial. Locally, regeneration of the area adjacent to the Stadium of Light is described as transforming a post-industrial landscape.
Le Bris’s presence has been central to Sunderland’s rise; the 50-year-old’s squad last season were the 2025 Championship playoff winners who adapted quickly to the Premier League and twice defeated Newcastle in league fixtures. Le Bris said: "We are growing together." His coaching background is outlined in the piece, noting a decade as a Lorient youth coach before taking first-team charge in 2022 and academic qualifications that include a doctorate in physiology and biomechanics and a diploma in the mental training of elite athletes.
Transfer activity so far is modest compared with the previous summer: Thomas Meunier, 34, is the sole summer signing at the time of writing and arrived as a free transfer after Sunderland failed to sign him a year earlier. Meunier, who has 83 Belgium caps and played at the World Cup, is expected to compete with Nordi Mukiele and Trai Hume at right-back and his experience from spells at Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund is cited as useful for the Europa League. The article notes a contrast with the 14 new signings made 12 months earlier and reports that at least two further recruits are expected before the window closes.
Statistically Sunderland’s 2025-26 season presented anomalies: Opta’s expected-points metric would have placed them in a relegation position, yet they finished 11 places higher than their XG implied, a wider margin between statistical performance and outcome than any other team in Europe’s big five leagues. The squad’s depth and upcoming Europa League involvement have brought youth prospects into contention; Tom Proctor, 17, son of first-team coach and former forward Michael Proctor, was included in the pre-season United States tour as he begins his second year as an academy scholar. Proctor, who joined the academy at age six, is reported to have impressed with his technical ability, awareness and eye for goal and could make a competitive first-team debut if the squad is stretched by continental fixtures.
Twelve Sunderland players featured at the World Cup, a number the article contrasts with Real Madrid’s total, and that exposure is credited with pleasing executives focused on commercial growth. Wilson Isidor scored Haiti’s first World Cup goal since 1974, Brian Brobbey scored three times for the Netherlands, and Meunier also represented Belgium during the tournament; all of those participants have since returned to the Sunderland group.
Sunderland enter 2026-27 preparing for a Premier League season that will include a Europa League campaign, with at least two further signings expected before the transfer window closes and a squad that retains key figures such as captain Granit Xhaka and summer arrival Thomas Meunier.