Transfer update: Moving for this excellent star shows how far Sunderland have come.

•  Sunderland’s recent success under new ownership has put them in the same company as Real Madrid and Barcelona, attracting attention from top clubs.

•  The club’s impressive turnaround from being laughed at to being a model for rebuilding is attributed to their strategy of bringing in young, talented players.

•  The potential signing of Luciano Rodriguez, who is also being monitored by Real Madrid and Barcelona, highlights the incredible progress Sunderland has made in recent years.

It’s not often that Sunderland get mentioned in the same sentence as Real Madrid and Barcelona, but it’s never bad company to be in.

Some of you might be thinking ‘what on earth has brought these two giants of European football, and Barcelona, together.’ Well it might become more and more commonplace with the way things are going.

The Black Cats have been riding the crest of a wave since the new owner, and chairman, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus took over the club in February 2021.

The two full seasons that have come since then (2021/22 and 22/23) can surely be considered major successes.

The club has gone from a bit of a laughingstock in English football to a premier example of how to rebuild a club. This sentiment is backed by winning the 21/22 League One playoffs, and almost repeating that success, except this time in the Championship.

Now, with at least another stab at the playoffs looking likely, you have to say the plan has worked. Said plan is based on bringing in young talented players, and this is where the links to the two Spanish super teams comes from.

Sunderland linked to Real Madrid and Barcelona target

The Black Cats have been linked with Uruguayan forward Luciano Rodriguez by The Sun journalist Alan Nixon.

Reports from Spain also suggest that Barca and Real have been monitoring the situation around Rodriguez for the past year. The player, who currently represents Liverpool UY, is said to be keen on a move to play in Europe.

The Sunderland Echo said that he is: “an ambitious target for the Black Cats,” but they wouldn’t be far away from having the capital to go after the 20-year-old. Speaking to the Sunderland Echo, Nathan Joyes, a South American football content creator, said: “In terms of cost, Fabricio Diaz moved from Liverpool to Al-Gharafa in the summer for around €6-8million (£5-7 million).

“I’d guess Rodriguez’s fee would be close to half that amount.”

The club spent close to that amount of money, combined, on Jobe Bellingham, Adil Aouchiche and Jenson Seelt in the summer. With the £10 million fee that they got for Ross Stewart at the end of the summer window, and the potential sale of Jack Clarke being worth in excess of £20 million, Sunderland would be in a good financial state to go get Rodriguez.

Targeting Luciano Rodriguez shows how far Sunderland have come

Of course, the prospect, alone, of being able to sign someone like Rodriguez should get Sunderland fans excited. Joyes described the 20-year-old as being a pacey, strong player with a range of ways to score and good positional sense when in the box. He’s scored seven goals in 25 league games this season.

Luckily for Sunderland, this new ownership has not only brought new life to the club, but also a different way of doing things; and it’s let them to plenty of success so far.

To be linked with players that are also being monitored by arguably the two biggest clubs in the world, all jokes aside, who both have a strong history of picking the best youth talent from around the world, shows just how good a job has been done at the club in the last few years.