It is fair to say that it has been an exciting summer for Sunderland since they beat Sheffield United at Wembley to earn promotion to the Premier League.
The Black Cats have not messed about in the summer transfer window, as they have splashed the cash to improve the options at Regis Le Bris’ disposal.
Possibly the most notable addition of the window so far has been the signing of experienced midfielder Granit Xhaka from Bayer Leverkusen for a fee of £13m.
The Switzerland international has played over 200 games in the Premier League, over 100 matches in the Bundesliga, and over 30 times in the Champions League, per Transfermarkt, and the Black Cats are now on the verge of landing a similarly high-profile signing.
Sunderland set to sign Paris Saint-Germain defender
According to Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg, Sunderland have reached an agreement to bring Paris Saint-Germain defender Nordi Mukiele to the Stadium of Light.
The journalist claims that the 27-year-old is now closing in on a move to Wearside with ‘immediate effect’, and notes that he could be reunited with Xhaka after playing alongside him last season.
Fabrizio Romano adds that Mukiele has already said ‘yes’ to a move to Sunderland, which suggests that there may not be many problems with personal terms.
If the Black Cats can get this deal over the line in the coming hours, the club could have an exciting repeat of their Xhaka masterclass on their hands.
Why Mukiele is a Xhaka repeat for Sunderland
The new Sunderland captain arrived to much fanfare as a vastly experienced and well-known name in European football, particularly in England, and Mukiele would be a similar signing.
Although he does not have the same reputation in England, the France international is a well-known name to anyone who has kept up with European football in the past five years or so, as he has starred for RB Leipzig, Paris Saint-Germain, and Bayer Leverkusen.
|
Nordi Mukiele’s club career |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Competition |
Appearances |
Goals + assists |
|
Bundesliga |
115 |
19 |
|
Ligue 1 |
85 |
4 |
|
Champions League |
35 |
5 |
|
Ligue 2 |
34 |
4 |
|
Europa League |
7 |
0 |
As you can see in the table above, Mukiele has plenty of experience at the top level, with 200 appearances in two of the top five leagues in Europe in his career to date.
Sky Sports contributor Dougie Critchley describes the versatile star, who can play at right-back or centre-back, as a “dominant” defender and a “Champions League level player”, like Xhaka.
These comments and his statistics throughout his career show that Sunderland are on the verge of signing a vastly experienced player who has proven himself on some of the biggest stages in Europe, as was the case when they signed Xhaka from Leverkusen.
Mukiele played 15 times in the Bundesliga for Leverkusen in the 2024/25 campaign and showcased his dominant defensive work by winning 67% of his ground duels and making 2.3 tackles and interceptions per game, as per Sofascore.
This suggests that he will be an aggressive, strong, and experienced option for Le Bris to call upon at right-back or centre-back in the Premier League, given his performances in the German top-flight last term.
His experience at the top level and recent displays in the Bundesliga suggest that he will not be phased by what the Premier League will throw at him week-in-week-out, in the same way that the incredibly experienced Xhaka will be a dependable figure in midfield.
Therefore, this could be another exciting and impressive piece of recruitment work done by the Black Cats in their attempt to build a team that will not look out of their depth in the top-flight.
