With the final days of the window ticking by, it looked as if Stewart would remain on Wearside, but Southampton swooped late to make the £10

million signing in the final hours.

It was undoubtedly a blow for Sunderland, but manager Tony Mowbray had issued several updates throughout the last few weeks that a number of

attackers were being targeted to bolster his front line. After all, Stewart had been on the sidelines with an Achilles heel problem since January and

alternatives needed to be found to cover the goals lost by him and Amad Diallo – who returned to Manchester United following his highly

successful loan spell.

The day after obtaining the services of Mason Burstow on a season-long loan from Premier League powerhouse Chelsea, Sunderland responded

forcefully with a 5-0 victory over Southampton on Saturday. This came after they had struggled to score goals in the early going of the season.

Speakman claimed that he had attempted to persuade Stewart to stay in the North East but ultimately had to make a difficult decision, speaking on

the club’s official website via the Northern Echo;

The guy has played at a very high level for our football club, and we feel blessed to have had him here, so it was a really complicated situation.

We were really pleased with the advancement he made in this area. People will have undoubtedly formed an opinion.

“What we had to do is ensure we protect the club and what we tried to do with that situation is make the best possible offer to retain him, which

was our number one priority, and I said that throughout all the communication internally and externally.

“But there also comes a moment when you have to make a difficult decision and once you’ve made that difficult decision – and it was probably a

difficult decision for the player as well to move on – then we had to protect the football club and get the best deal, and I certainly feel we did that.”

Writer’s View

Sunderland will have been desperate to retain the services of one of the top strikers in the division, although the loss is not as big as many will lead

you to believe. Tony Mowbray navigated his way to the play-offs last season without the services of the player for much of the campaign, but his

absence was highlighted by the Black Cats’ poor start.

Last Saturday’s big win has eased those concerns, particularly because a number of their new signings did not feature. They travel to goal-shy

Queens Park Rangers after the international break and the manager will be keen to cement the last result with another big win.