Selling Sessegnon will leave some big boots to fill at Sunderland

There have been rumours circulating for the last few days now that Sunderland manager Paulo Di Canio may be willing to let playmaker Stephane Sessegnon leave The Stadium of Light for the right price. He has put an £8 million price tag on the player's head in the hope that he will be able to use the money generated from any sale to buy in his own players.

However, Di Canio is taking a big risk, it seems he has already let star goalkeeper Simon Mignolet go and if he were to allow Sessegnon to take the exit door as well he will have to make sure he brings in players who can fill the gaps left behind quickly.

Sessegnon has become a big favourite of the fans on Wearside, during his time at the club the stadium would always come alive when he had the ball as everyone knows he has the potential to turn in a match winning run or shot at any moment. He is quick, skilful, strong and has a low centre of gravity which makes it hard to knock him off the ball and it is these attributes that have led Sessegnon to become one of the most influential players in the team.

He arrived from Paris Saint-Germain in 2011 and has since made 84 appearances for ‘the black cats’ scoring 18 goals and contributing many more assists. He had a bad spell when he first signed but he has grown into his role at Sunderland and has proved how valuable he can be with his performances.

The former PSG man has mentioned when interviewed in the past that he would like to go back to France at some point in his career for family reasons and this may also be a factor in any potential reason for selling him. However in my opinion Di Canio should be doing everything he can to keep hold of a player of Sessegnon’s calibre.

It seems though that since Di Canio has taken over he wants to rebuild the squad from top to bottom with his own signings. To do that though he is going to have to sell players that he doesn’t think suit what he wants and it would seem that the 29-year-old playmaker is one of those players.

Di Canio will have to make sure though that whatever price he gets for the Benin international he must bring in a player who can take the mantle and run with it in that playmaker position. Sessegnon has been described as a ‘little piece of dynamite’ and a ‘natural match winner’ and he has proved that he can flip a game on its head. He may not be the most consistent but when he is on the pitch you always think that he could do something at any moment to sway the game towards Sunderland.

Sunderland just look more like scoring when he’s on the pitch when he’s not the team sometimes looked devoid of ideas and lacked any sort of penetration, Sessegnon was one of a few players who are really willing to run at the heart of opposition defences and cause problems. That is what gets fans on the edge of their seats and Di Canio must take that in to account he has to make sure he gets it right, because if he doesn’t get a player who can fill Sessegnon’s boots he may have to do a bit more to appease the supporters at The Stadium of Light. 

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