Sunderland have confirmed the signing of midfielder Cabral and defenders Valentin Roberge and Modibo Diakite all on free transfers

I’m wrapping up all 3 transfers at the same time to make things a little simpler so here goes

Background and basic stats

Cabral (actual name Adilson Tavares Varela) is a 24 year old Cape Verdean footballer who also has Swiss citizenship. He plays as a defensive midfielder or centre back.  He has signed on a free transfer from Basel where he has played the vast majority of his career

Stats:

26 games for FC Lausanne between 2005 and 2007 with no goals and no assists

99 games for Basel in the Super league between 2007/2013 with 2 goals 1 assist.  Last year he played 27 games for 1 assist

 He’s played 40 games in Europe for Basel for 1 goal and 1 assist.  He’s played 9 games for the Swiss under 21 team 

Modibo Diakite is a 6 foot 4 inch 26 year old  French centre back of Mali extraction who has played his entire first team career at Lazio 

Stats

65 games for Lazio over 6 seasons between 2006 and 2013 in Serie A with 2 goals and 1 assists.  He didnt play at all in Serie A last season due to a contract dispute.  The previous season he played 25 games for 1 goal and 2 assists

He’s played 14 times  for Lazio in the Europa league for 1 assist. 

Valentin Roberge  is a 6 foot 2 inch 26 year old French centre back who has played 2 seasons for Greek side Aris  Thessaloniki and most recently 3 seasons for Maritimo in the Portugese Primera Liga

Stats

25 games over 2 seasons between 2008/2010 in the Greek Super League for Aris Thessaloniki with no goals and no assists

77 games over 3 seasons for Maritimo between 2010/2013 in the Portugese Primera Liga for 2 goals and 1 assist.  Last season he played 25 games for 1 goal.  Maritimo finished 10th out of 16 games.

Fantasy premier League perspective

First looking at the 2 centre backs Diakite and Roberge. Lets look at game time first.  With Bramble and Kilgallon gone the CBs left are Brown, Cuellar and O’Shea.  With no return date for Brown’s knee injury it seems the competition for the centre back position will be between Cuellar and O’Shea and the 2 new recruits mentioned here.  Both the 2 new recruits have a strong pedigrees and Cuellar wasnt the strong selection he was under Martin O’Neill.  At the moment its difficult to tell who will start but at the moment I would probably plump for O’Shea given he held his place under Di Canio and Diakite given his pedigree but the fact that he virtually sisnt play at all last season is worrying.  Pre-sason will give us more of an understanding.

Is the Sunderland defence worth investing in?  With 4 CBs there has to be some value there and someone at £4.5m should be available.  I rated the Sunderland the 11th best home defence (15th overall) but the 18th worst away defence (34th overall).  They did however manage 7 clean sheets at home and 4  away.  This however in my mind had alot to do with the excellent GK Mignolet and I think his loss will significantly worsen the stats.  However this maybe counteracted by the new signings. At the right £4.5m value they could be worth a home rotation spot depending on the alternatives.

Firstly Cabral being a defensive midfielder for Sunderland will probably make him a £4.5m value player.  He certainly has the pedigree to take his place  as a defensive midfielder in the Sunderland line up.  Cattermole and N’Diaye are the competition.  There are rumours about Cattermole being sold and he is also currently injured although the hope is that he will be able to do some pre-season training.  At the moment I can see Cabral starting but again pre-season will give us a clue. Personally I would hope that there is a better prospect 5th midfielder for £4.5m than a Sunderland defensive midfielder even if he does start.  

 Summary

Too difficult to predict whether Diakite or Roberge will start on opening day given that there are 4 CBs at the moment.  Pre-season will show whether either will start.  Depending on value and alternatives they could make a reasonable home rotation defender. A maybe for one of them in my opening day fantasy premier league team.

I think Cabral will start but as a defensive midfielder I would hope there will be a better alternative for my 5th midfielder even if he is at £4.5m.  Unlikely to be in my opening day fantasy premier league team.