Di Canio let Sunderland star go for £1m, now he’s outperforming Bellingham

Sunderland fans will hope their team gets back to their best when Championship football resumes this weekend, with Regis Le Bris’ Black Cats top of the current second tier pile.

It hasn’t been constant sunshine however at the Stadium of Light, as Le Bris’ side have shown some chinks in their armour, with back-to-back away defeats in the league making for worrying reading as the Wearside outfit prepare for their trip to Hull City this coming Saturday.

The already popular Frenchman will just want his players to raise their performance levels for the away game versus the Tigers, to avoid an ego-bruising third straight loss on the road, with the ex-Lorient manager definitely wanting Jobe Bellingham to stand up and be counted more.

Bellingham’s form this season

It has been somewhat of a quiet start to the campaign for the Sunderland boy wonder, who announced himself to the Black Cats faithful last season with a stunning seven goals, despite only still being a wide-eyed teenager.

The 19-year-old only has an underwhelming one goal and one assist this time around from seven league clashes, but his performances have been encouraging to view, away from his output slightly drying up.

His showing against Leeds United was particularly impressive, with the Sunderland number seven only misplacing two of his 48 passes on the day coming up against a makeshift Whites midfield, alongside also registering three efforts on Illan Meslier’s net.

The game before this enthralling 2-2 draw also saw Bellingham break his duck for the season with a sublime strike versus Derby County, with the teenager raring to get back on a pitch for his Championship employers and score more stunning strikes, starting with a trip to Tim Walter’s Hull this weekend.

Whilst Bellingham will aim to better his 2023/24 output across this marathon of a campaign to come, on the way to his side potentially making a long-awaited return to Premier League, one former Sunderland man is actually now bettering the starlet’s numbers, despite being very much submerged in the twilight years of his playing days.

The player who is outperforming Bellingham

Amazingly, despite being 35 years of age, ex-Black Cats winger James McClean is currently trumping Bellingham’s numbers, lining up for Wrexham in the league below.

McClean was let go of by the Wearside club 11 years ago, when Sunderland were regularly competing in the top-flight, with Paolo Di Canio selling him on to Championship outfit Wigan Athletic for £1m.

He would go on to become a success at the Latics, away from collecting 11 goals and six assists from 70 appearances at the Stadium of Light, with McClean also becoming a household name in the Championship and Premier League with various different clubs away from solely Wigan.

In the here and now, the 104-time Republic of Ireland international has arguably found a new lease of life with Wrexham, even as his playing days begin to wind down.

Last time out, the experienced Red Dragons captain would help himself to two goals and an assist as his Welsh outfit easily brushed aside Northampton Town 4-1, bettering Bellingham’s season numbers in just one League One encounter, with those being his only golden contributions in the league so far.

McClean was an obvious coup for the resurgent team when he put pen to paper on a deal last year, with Wrexham even remarkably having another major player from Sunderland’s recent history in Steven Fletcher on their books now too.

If the tenacious Irishman can keep up his top form, he could end up steering his employers up to the same division as Sunderland, where the two teams could face off if Le Bris’ men don’t also taste promotion themselves.

Whilst Wrexham are proving that age is just a number in the case of their star number seven, the Black Cats operate very differently with a young and hungry core front and centre of their philosophy, as they strive to move back up to the Premier League with this raw group.