Sunderland were the losers in controversial £5m Swansea City deal: View | OneFootball

It’s easy to forget that Sunderland AFC once had 10 successive years playing in the English Premier League.

The Black Cats were a side that had been finishing around mid-table for a number of years and was in a position to sign players for high transfer fees.

During that time in the top flight, Sunderland bought many players, some who were good purchases and some who will be easily forgotten.

Sadly for Danny Graham, it will be the latter that he comes under, given that his move to the Stadium of Light never worked out.

Sunderland signed Danny Graham for £5 million in 2013

Danny Graham started his football career in the youth academy of Middlesbrough, and while he spent a few years at the club, the majority of the time there saw him out on loan at various clubs.

He left Boro to join Carlisle United, and after two years with the Cumbrians, he then joined Watford, and it was with these two clubs that his form was starting to pick up and teams were starting to take notice.

After two years with the Hornets, Swansea City signed Graham in an expensive deal at the time. He continued his scoring streak with the Swans, netting 12 goals in 36 Premier League appearances in his first season.

He then scored three goals in 18 top-flight appearances the next season before leaving the Welsh side and joining Sunderland in January 2013 for a deal worth £5 million.

The Black Cats were hoping that Graham would be able to continue his form on Wearside, but that was anything but the case.

Sunderland signing Danny Graham wasn’t like any other signing a club makes, as days before this deal happened, the Sunderland faithful were booing the forward when he appeared for Swansea, given he is a boyhood Newcastle United fan.

So, those feelings a few days ago hadn’t vanished when he became a Sunderland player; therefore, the striker was already on the back foot when it came to the supporters.

Graham would have hoped that would be forgotten about as soon as he started scoring goals for the Black Cats, but the longer he didn't, the more it was brought up, and in the end, it was a disaster of a signing.

In all, the striker spent two and a half seasons at the Stadium of Light, but the majority of it saw him sent out on loan to the likes of Hull City, Middlesbrough, Wolves, and Blackburn Rovers.

During that time at Sunderland, Graham played 42 times for the club in all competitions, and he managed just one goal. Given how he performed in previous campaigns at Swansea and Watford, that was incredibly disappointing.

In his final season at the Stadium of Light before leaving to join Blackburn Rovers on a free transfer, Graham played just 10 times for Sunderland in the Premier League but started just four times.

The forward was averaging just 36 minutes on the pitch, during which he had just 0.4 shots on goal with 0.2 on target, and he missed one big chance, as per Sofascore.com.

The forward had just 13.9 touches of the ball and was unable to record any chances created for his teammates or any key passes, which summed up his time at the club, per Sofascore.com.

Overall, his time with the Black Cats was a complete disaster, as the fans never took to him and he never settled at the club, which resulted in having an impact on his football.

Sunderland were the losers in this deal, while Swansea will have sat back and felt they were true winners out of it all.