Mukiele: Key strengths, footballing style...and what he'll bring to Cats

Sunderland have signed Nordi Mukiele from Paris Saint-Germain on a £12 million, four-year contract.

- by Phil Smith

So who is Mukiele, and what will he bring to the Sunderland squad?

Here, we take a closer look...

PROFILE

Mukiele is a 27-year-old defender who fits Sunderland's search for players with experience of top-level football perfectly.

After a transfer from Laval, Mukiele made his name during a very successful campaign and a half at Ligue 1 side Montpellier.

That led to a transfer to Bundesliga side RB Leipzig in 2018, when he was a regular for four seasons.

A move back to France and to PSG followed, where the defender won a number of trophies without ever fully establishing himself as a lock in the starting XI.

It was a similar story at Bayer Leverkusen last season, where in a loan spell he made 24 appearances across all competitions.

He was a key player in the squad without ever really nailing down one position in the starting XI, which was perhaps unsurprising given how well established Xabi Alonso's preferred side was from their double-winning campaign.

So Sunderland are signing a player who has regularly competed at the very top level, albeit one who has for a few seasons not got the level of minutes he might have liked.

It's still undoubtedly a coup for a newly-promoted club. At 27, he still has a lot of very good years in the game ahead of him.

ATTRIBUTES