Sunderland set to get stung by Bramble deal?
Some of the transfers that take place in the summer never cease to amaze me. The imminent transfer of Wigan defender Titus Bramble to Sunderland is one of those moves, but a closer look and it makes much more sense. Bramble of course used to play under Steve Bruce at Wigan, and the Sunderland gaffer obviously liked what he saw in the much-maligned defender. Just because the move makes sense, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a good one though, but could the acquisition of Bramble turn out to be a good little bit of business for the Black Cats?
Titus Bramble isn’t exactly held in the highest regard by Premier League fans around the country. His five years up the road at Newcastle were littered with numerous calamitous errors and the promise seen in him by Sir Bobby Robson never came to fruition. A string of poor performances resulted in the name of Titus Bramble becoming associated with that of an accident waiting to happen. Three years at Wigan have done little to change that feeling, although Bramble has clearly shown more consistency at the DW Stadium. Is he really the man to provide solidity at the heart of the Sunderland defence?
Steve Bruce clearly thinks so and given the defensive problems at the Stadium of Light Bramble will at least add to the numbers they have at the back. The 2009/10 Premier League campaign for Sunderland was blighted by injuries in defence, and a permanent deal for Ghana international John Mensah still looks some way off due to his long-term fitness problems. Bramble himself missed the end of last season due to a foot injury as well. But Sunderland were in need of a defender, and Bruce certainly hasn’t hung around in pushing through a deal for Bramble as they start to step up preparations for this season. However, is £1m for Bramble money well spent?
Ultimately given the small amount of money Sunderland are spending on Bramble compared to the cash being splashed around by other Premier League clubs, the Black Cats don’t have much to lose and stand to gain plenty if this long-shot comes off. It might just be that the 28-year-old now has the experience and has learnt from his mistakes (there have been plenty of them), but will a central defensive partnership with Michael Turner be a successful one? I think it might just transpire that Bruce gets stung by this Bramble transfer, and he won’t have any excuse for not seeing it coming!
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I think this article is more than a bit harsh on Titus. The best days of his career have been in his last 3 years at Wigan, most of those games under Steve Bruce, an ex-defender. He’s been our best player for the last two seasons by a distance and to say £1m is a bargain is an under-statement.
He made mistakes in his Newcastle career but I bet other players made just as many as he did during that time. Newcastle fans love a scapegoat when they’re not top of the league (!) and, unfortunately for Titus, it was him.
He’s been a tremendous servant to Wigan Athletic and I for one will be very sorry to see him move on for a fee which, to me, does not reflect the fact that Sunderland are get a defender in the prime of his career and working under a manager that clearly knows how to get the very best out of him. I just hope Sunderland fans are patient with him and allow him to settle in without pouncing on his back at the slightest little error of judgement.
Good luck Titus.
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