TWO SIDES

Yesterday’s announcement of Tommy Watson’s exit came a really strange time and reading through the comments on the ALS social media pages, supporters are divided: has Watson acted unprofessionally and disrespected the club by forcing an exit, or have Sunderland simply done good business to extract maximum value from a player running down his contract? To be honest, it’s probably a bit of both.

First of all, let’s address the elephant in the room. Ian Harte is not Tommy’s agent, but the 18-year-old is dating Harte’s daughter and probably goes round his house every weekend for Sunday lunch. Of course, we don’t know how much influence Ian has had in this transfer, but it’s likely that he’s been in Watson’s ear to some extent.

Thinking back to when Jack Clarke left Sunderland for a big money move orchestrated by his agent (Ian Harte) to Premier League side (for now) Ipswich Town, I hope that on a personal level this transfer works out better for this talented left-winger. Given his loudmouthed and quite frankly brainless approach to conducting himself in his line of work, perhaps Harte should apply for a job in Donald Trump’s Press Office. He’d fit in perfectly.

From SAFC’s perspective, it looks to be a good deal financially. A reported £10m fee, with a sell-on clause of somewhere up to 20%, represents good value for a teenager who ultimately has made 14 Championship appearances and scored twice, with both goals coming in the same game. Of course, Brighton are paying for Watson’s potential rather than his current level, and in the future, this will probably be looked back on as £10m well-spent from them. But right now, I don’t think many people are complaining about this fee. It’s in the same region as Southampton spent on Ross Stewart, our talisman who had led the club out of League One and pretty much guaranteed goals (whenever fit) at Championship level.

The argument can be made that when Regis Le Bris has a full squad, Tommy doesn’t even get in the team. Romaine Mundle is our first-choice left winger and looks slightly more refined right now, even if Watson perhaps has a higher ceiling. I wonder if this is part of Watson’s motivation to leave the club. If Sunderland can’t give him any assurances over playing time, what’s the point in staying here to sit on the bench? From a totally mercenary point of view, you’d rather sit on the bench for a Premier League team on Premier League wages. Then again, Tommy is only 18 and game time, regardless of the level, is the most important thing for his development. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Brighton loan him out next season.

There were rumours back in January that Tommy had travelled to Brighton for a medical, only for the deal to collapse on deadline day, which shows just how desperate he was to get this transfer done. If he was intent on running down his contract and ultimately leaving for free in the future, it makes a lot of sense to cash in now. For clarity, his contract was set to expire at the end of next season, in 2026, so the clock really was ticking on this decision. This money will hopefully be reinvested into the squad, let’s use it to make Chris Mepham’s move permanent for a start, then give Dennis Cirkin and Dan Neil new contracts too, before we lost them! Plus, it’s no secret that the model is to unearth these young stars and sell them on for a big fee and reinvest. If we’re going to sell one star player per transfer window (Stewart, Clarke, now Watson) then perhaps it will allow us to keep hold of the likes of Jobe and Rigg for a little bit longer?

The timing of the move is the most confusing thing for me. Why announce in the middle of a promotion/play-off campaign? Even if the deal had been agreed in advance, I would’ve expected the club to let Tommy play the remainder of the season without this cloud hanging over him. Now, if he’s subbed on there may be a mixed reception in the crowd and if he puts in a bad performance there will be a narrative of ‘he doesn’t care, he’s off in June anyway’. It’s not as if Brighton need to announce this transfer with any great deal of urgency either. They’re fighting for European football, it’s not as if signing an unknown 18-year-old with barely any Championship experience is going to boost season ticket sales from their perspective. It seems as though Sunderland haven’t been able to convince Watson to stay, so have thrown him under the bus with this mid-season announcement.

Ultimately, it’s a real shame that Watson’s brief time in the senior Sunderland team has come to this sort of end. From now until when he’s wearing a Brighton shirt, there will be a shadow cast over him but let’s not forget that there are two sides to every coin. He is a Sunderland fan from Easington and he’s earned a Premier League move at 18 years old. Good luck for the future Tommy… I hope you seal your exit with the winner in the play-off final.