Sunderland AFC: Lee Johnson's Ross Stewart prediction was on the money in 2021 - View | OneFootball

Johnson made a bold claim on how successful Stewart would be in the short term - and he was proved right.

Sunderland moved to sign Ross Stewart from Ross County back in January 2021, after seeing him perform well in the Scottish football pyramid.

Scoring 28 goals in 82 games for the Scottish side during his time there, he had also done well at Albion Rovers, Alloa Athletic and St Mirren, with his goalscoring ability likely to have alerted the Black Cats.

However, with the player yet to make his first appearance in English football at the time, it was unclear how he was going to perform at the Stadium of Light.

Lee Johnson, who was the Wearside club's manager at the time, predicted that he would make a good impact in the short term despite the fact he needed to adapt to life south of the border.

He told the BBC: "Ross is a player that will be great for us in the short term, but he can also develop and improve over the long term.

"He's at a good age, he's very fit and quick, and he obviously has good height as well, so he has all attributes to succeed."

He only had a limited number of opportunities to impress during the second half of the 2020/21 season, but he was able to register three goals in 12 competitive games during that time, and Johnson's claim that he would be great in the short term proved to be correct.

Ross Stewart's impact at Sunderland

Having scored at a rate of one goal every four games during the second half of 2020/21, that gave him a platform to build on ahead of the 2021/22 campaign.

During the summer of 2021, the Black Cats had been in League One for three years despite their stature, and someone had to step up to fire the club back into the Championship after a fairly long absence.

This is what Stewart was able to do, registering 26 goals and five assists in 53 competitive appearances for the club during the 2021/22 season, and some of these goals proved to be crucial.

He capitalised on a mistake from Sheffield Wednesday's Sam Hutchinson in the play-off semi-final first leg - and that goal proved to be the difference between the two sides in the end.

His pace and composure were impressive - and he also scored the Black Cats' second in a 2-0 play-off final win against Wycombe Wanderers later on that month to all but seal the game.

The Scotsman proved to be a real game-changer that term - and he was also able to take that form into the second tier following their promotion - making a remarkable start to the season under then-manager Alex Neil.

Stewart scored 11 goals in 15 competitive games during the 2022/23 season - and would have made more of an impact if it wasn't for a couple of injury setbacks.

Because of his Achilles injury, he wasn't available during the early stages of last term, but he still made the move to then-Championship rivals Southampton shortly before the 2023 summer window closed.

Sunderland sold Ross Stewart at the right time

The Black Cats reportedly received £8m up front for the player, with £4m in add-ons also included in the deal, and it looks as though the Wearside outfit got the better end of the deal.

Unfortunately for Stewart, he has spent the vast majority of his time at St Mary's out injured with a hamstring problem, making just four appearances in all competitions last term with all of them coming from the bench.

Promotion may not have done a huge amount to raise his morale, considering he spent much of last term on the sidelines.

However, the 2024/25 campaign was an opportunity for him to kickstart his career and prove his worth at the top level, but he sustained another injury in his fourth Premier League appearance of the season against Arsenal this month.

It's just not working out for Stewart on the south coast at the time of writing - and that's a shame - because he was exceptional at the Stadium of Light.