When Kyril Louis-Dreyfus arrived at Sunderland the club was in the midst of a torrid run of form with newly appointed Lee Johnson stressing the importance of lowering the average age of the squad. The new owner outlined his immediate plans to rebuild the club from the ground up after years of what he called asset stripping.
During the 2020-21 season, the Black Cats had the oldest average age squad in League One at 27.2 years and it had shown in performances during the season. For all the experience they had in their ranks, their was a distinct lack of energy in the heart of midfield.
Two years on and with promotion to the Championship achieved , Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjan Speakman have addressed the biggest issue that they were facing at the club.
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Sunderland now have the youngest squad in the Championship, with an average age of 23.4 years. The average age of squads in the division as a whole, is 26.1 with Wigan Athletic having the highest average age at 27.9 years.
The Wearsiders made a solid start to the campaign, but a slump that coincided with injuries to key players saw them drop down the table. With some of the younger players struggling with consistency.
That's only normal for young players who are far from their peak, with plenty still to be learned. However, given the Black Cats are only four points off the play-offs, with the likes of Dan Ballard and Ross Stewart still to return, these are promising times on Wearside.
Tony Mowbray has a reputation for developing young players and he has all the tools in locker to get the best out of this current group of players. You would expect Sunderland to be active in January as they continue to build and add to the squad gradually.
Louis-Dreyfus has already hinted that the club may need to sell some assets in order to improve the squad sustainably - you need just look at the success of Brentford on their ascent to the Championship to see how it should be done.
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