REPORT: After losing out on promotion, Sunderland must now spend £80 million to sign Championship Player of the Season.

Sunderland have been in search of a new manager for some time now, with Kyril Louis-Dreyfus yet to appoint a successor for Michael Beale.

After an underwhelming season of stagnation in the second tier in finishing 16th in the league, there are bound to be a number of changes behind the scenes at the Stadium of Light, with the futures of many players up for discussion in both the short and long-term, as well as the need for a new man in the dugout.

Mike Dodds was in the caretaker hotseat until the end of the season, and they now need to make an appointment as early as possible for the right candidate to help transition the club into next season. Beale was an unpopular appointment with Black Cats supporters, and he failed to win over the doubters during his two-month spell at the helm.

Dodds was only in interim charge but the club have had four permanent managers in two years and are in need of the next boss to take a young squad to the next level. Sunderland’s sporting director, Kristjaan Speakman, recently stated that they would be willing to pay a compensation fee to a club in order to get the manager that they wanted.

Sunderland’s next appointment

Their recruitment so far in the last few transfer windows has continued to reflect the policy of signing pre-peak and youth players, which Sunderland have implemented over the last couple of seasons, and has had far more hits than misses thus far. Largely, it is players aged 21 and under, with the resale value and scope to develop rapidly, that have helped to add continuity and progression to the sustainable, forward-thinking model that has been put into place.

Speakman, Louis-Dreyfus and co. have done well to improve that side of things with Sunderland in season one and continued to build last summer, albeit they ended up taking a step back in season two, perhaps overdoing that side of things and needing a few extra senior heads.