Sunderland haven’t been the best operators in the transfer market over the past few years.

The Black Cats’ poor business in the Premier League saw back-to-back relegations land them in League One, and even since slumping to the third division, a number of their big-money gambles haven’t paid off, with the likes of Will Grigg scoring just five league goals since joining for £4m in 2019.

Unfortunately, their outgoings have been just as bad as their incomings, with perhaps the most famous example of this being Josh Maja, a player who left for just £3.5m halfway through a season where Sunderland were pushing for promotion.

Maja has since gone on to be valued at around £10m after a strong start to life in France, and Sunderland selling him for such a cut-price fee looks like a huge mistake.

However, despite the Maja sale being such a miscue from the men in charge at the Stadium of Light, they may have already outdone themselves with another awful deal which has seen the Black Cats ripped off.

Joe Hugill was one of Sunderland’s most highly-rated young players with youth coach Elliott Dickman describing him as a player with a lot of potential, tipping him to play for the U23s at the age of 16:

“He is showing good progress and I think he will be back with the under-18s for now, but I am sure he will be with us again.

“If he keeps doing what he is doing, he will definitely get a taste of under-23s football again.

“But at the same time, we have to make sure we look after Joe.

“We can’t push him too quickly, but the signs are there that he has good potential.”

Despite this glowing review from Dickman, Sunderland sold him this summer for just £250k, and that fee is already starting to look like a bit of a joke.

Since joining Manchester United he has netted braces on both his U18s debut and his U23s debut outshining his teammates despite representing arguably the biggest team in the world.

To be ripping it up at U23 level as a 16-year-old is an unbelievable feat, and if Hugill can get even remotely close to following in the footsteps of the likes of Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford at Old Trafford, he will be worth a lot more than the £250k United spent on him.

This sale could end up being one of the worst in the Wearsiders’ history, and CEO Jim Rodwell has a lot to answer for with this one.