Sunderland’s summer transfer activity was the talk of the town during the recent window – and for good reason.
The Black Cats added an entirely new starting XI to the squad which secured a return to the top flight via the Championship play-offs last season and have hit the ground running after their nine-year Premier League hiatus.
Sunderland beat rivals to a number of signings, including the £30 million capture of Habib Diarra from Strasbourg, who was high on Leeds United’s list of midfield targets.
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Sunderland have made Premier League signing of the summer
Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs (Image credit: Getty Images)
The club spent in excess of £163m due to a combination of guaranteed Premier League broadcast revenue over the course of 2025/26, no ‘legacy’ Profitability and Sustainability (PSR) issues and a modest wage bill.
Simon Adingra arrived from Brighton and Hove Albion, loanee Enzo Le Fee signed permanently from Italian giants AS Roma, Granit Xhaka made a sensational switch from Bayer Leverkusen, while Brian Brobbey joined late in the window from AFC Ajax. But there is another player who should be receiving his flowers in the national media.
Sunderland summer signings
- Habib Diarra: Central Midfield, 21, R. Strasbourg (Ligue 1), €31.50m
- Simon Adingra: Left Winger, 23, Brighton (Premier League), €24.40m
- Enzo Le Fée: Central Midfield, 25, Roma (Serie A), €23.00m
- Brian Brobbey: Centre-Forward, 23, Ajax (Eredivisie), €20.00m
- Chemsdine Talbi: Right Winger, 20, Club Brugge (Jupiler Pro League), €20.00m
- Noah Sadiki: Central Midfield, 20, Union SG (Jupiler Pro League), €17.00m
- Granit Xhaka: Defensive Midfield, 32, Leverkusen (Bundesliga), €15.00m
- Nordi Mukiele: Right-Back, 27, PSG (Ligue 1), €12.00m
- Omar Alderete: Centre-Back, 28, Getafe (LaLiga), €11.60m
- Robin Roefs: Goalkeeper, 22, NEC Nijmegen (Eredivisie), €10.50m
- Bertrand Traoré: Right Winger, 29, Ajax (Eredivisie), €2.90m
- Reinildo Mandava: Left-Back, 31, Atlético (LaLiga), free transfer
- Arthur Masuaku: Left-Back, 31, Besiktas (Süper Lig), free transfer
- Lutsharel Geertruida: Right-Back, 25, Leipzig (Bundesliga), loan transfer
A signing that made fewer headlines was the acquisition of goalkeeper Robin Roefs from NEC Nijmegen in the Netherlands, for a reported £9m, rising to £11.5m should all performance-related add-ons be met.
The 2003-born stopper was a standout at this past summer’s Under-21 European Championship and Sunderland moved to secure his signature as their No.1 for the forthcoming campaign.
After six matches this season, Sunderland sit fifth in the Premier League table with three wins and just one defeat.
Even the most optimistic Black Cats supporter could scarcely have believed the club would enjoy such a productive summer and start to the new season.
Sunderland are off to a flying start (Image credit: Getty Images)
A key reason for that start has been Sunderland’s Roefs. The Dutchman is, at the time of writing, the Premier League’s best-performing goalkeeper from a shot-stopping perspective.
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The 22-year-old has prevented more goals than any other stopper, registering a Post Shot Expected Goals (PSxG) value of 2.2 after six matches, according to FBRef data.
This means due to the quality of shots faced, Roefs should have conceded two more goals on average than the actual tally Sunderland have allowed. Due to the goalkeeper’s shot-stopping, though, they have not, conceding just four in those six matches.
Last weekend, Roefs made six saves as Sunderland defeated Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the City Ground. In the 0-0 draw away to Crystal Palace – who are 18 games unbeaten across all competitions – Roefs also made six stops, four of which came inside the penalty area.
“I like to think I know a good goalkeeper when I see one… Robin Roefs has the qualities of a very good goalkeeper.”If Sunderland survive in the Premier League this season, the 22-year-old Dutchman will have played a significant role between the sticks—and garnered a lot of… pic.twitter.com/C1KBpRypx5September 8, 2025
Displays in the wins against Brentford and West Ham United were also noteworthy, saving Kevin Schade’s 59th minute spot-kick against the former, and making four stops en route to a debut clean sheet at home to the latter on the opening weekend.
Only Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Vicario and Burnley’s Martin Dubravka have saved more shots this season while Roefs has maintained an 82 per cent save percentage during the early part of the 2025/26 campaign, which is on par with the Spurs stopper and Arsenal’s David Raya.
“Robin is a talented young goalkeeper, who has been in high demand this summer after an impressive season in the Eredivisie,” sporting director Kristjaan Speakman told the Sunderland Echo.
“Right from our opening conversations, his desire to join Sunderland was clear and we are delighted that he’s now a member of our team. This was an area of our squad where we wanted increased competition and he has all the attributes to play at the highest level, so we’re looking forward to working with him to ensure he achieves that outcome at the Stadium of Light.”
Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris (Image credit: Getty Images)
Ahead of the October international break, Sunderland visit Old Trafford to play Manchester United this weekend.
A standout performance at the Theatre of Dreams would go a long way towards Roefs receiving the plaudits he deserves for his start to life in the Premier League.
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