While many Sunderland fans will be worried about the future of Ross Stewart as he continues to be linked away from the Stadium of Light, there is little doubt now that the club will make a significant profit on the Scottish striker.
Amid recent links to Celtic and Rangers amongst others, the Black Cats have reportedly slapped a £10m price tag on the striker’s head and if any interested side wants to pay that fee, then Sunderland will be laughing all the way to the bank.
The former Ross County man joined in January 2021 for just £300k and he has been a revelation since then, contributing an impressive 35 goals and eight assists in just 74 appearances for the club.
Considering his asking price in January 2021 and his £10m asking price now, his value has rocketed a hugely impressive 3233% in just under two years at the Stadium of Light.
The 26-year-old was integral to Sunderland’s promotion back to the Championship last season, as he hit 24 goals and five assists in the normal season, before notching another two in the playoffs to help the Black Cats finally get out of League One.
Kristjaan Speakman was understandably keen to tie him down to a new contract in the summer but so far, talks have not been successful.
The director of football said: “Ross has had an incredible season so for us, we’re always trying to protect players like that who have performed so well and naturally, you want to try and reward players.”
Despite missing a number of months through injury, the Scotland international leads the way for goals once again this season, marking his comeback with a goal against Hull City in last weekend’s draw to take his tally to six goals and three assists in just eight appearances in the second tier.
No player in Tony Mowbray’s squad has earned a higher average rating from WhoScored so far this season, so it seems clear that Stewart is a hugely important player to Sunderland, and it is easy to see why they have demanded such a hefty fee for him ahead of next month’s transfer window.
Although fans would be disappointed to see him leave next month, Speakman deserves a huge amount of credit as he undeniably struck gold when bringing him in for such a low fee back in January 2021.
