Sunderland AFC must surely have regrets over £2.5m Brighton deal | OneFootball

Will Buckley was hugely impressive for the Seagulls, but never hit the same heights in the North East.

Sunderland must surely have regrets over their 2014 deal to bring Will Buckley to the Stadium of Light.

The Black Cats paid a reported fee of £2.5million to bring the Brighton and Hove Albion man to the North East, but he simply never hit the same heights that he had for the Seagulls.

Buckley caught the eye with eight goals and eight assists in the Championship back in the 2012/13 season, but went on to make just 22 appearances during his three-year stay at Sunderland.

Given Buckley’s injury record at the time, and the way in which his career has faded out, Sunderland must surely wish they never parted with their cash.

Buckley never replicated his Brighton form at Sunderland

After first impressing in League Two for boyhood club Rochdale, it was at Watford where Buckley really caught the eye.

The winger notched four Championship goals and four assists as a 21-year-old back in 2010/11, a return which prompted Brighton to drop a then-club-record fee of £1million to secure his services.

Under the management of Gus Poyet, the South Coast outfit finished 10th on their return to the second tier in 2011/12, with new boy Buckley finishing the campaign with an impressive eight goals.

He went one better the following season, notching eight goals and eight assists as Brighton finished 4th, before crashing out of the Championship play-offs at the hands of bitter rivals Crystal Palace.

Buckley’s form was so good that season, that Poyet suggested he was better than Palace’s young talent Wilfried Zaha. The Uruguayan told The Argus: “How much are they talking about for Zaha? Ten million? They are going to have to go over that, because he is better, I’ve got no doubt.”

After signing a new extended deal at the club in January 2013, Buckley had his 2013/14 campaign disrupted by injuries. He ended the season with three goals and two assists from 34 games, before making the switch to Sunderland in the summer of 2014.

He linked up with his former boss again in the North East, but never really hit the same heights that he had at Brighton. When Poyet was sacked in March with Sunderland embroiled in a relegation battle, the winger struggled to force his way into the plans of new boss Dick Advocaat.

He made 22 appearances for the Black Cats that season and registered two assists. He never made a competitive appearance for the club again.

Buckley’s career faded out after Sunderland

Out of favour at Sunderland ahead of the 2015/16 season, Buckley moved back to the Championship on an emergency loan with Leeds United.

After that deal concluded, he joined Birmingham City for the remainder of the season, making ten appearances and scoring once for the Blues. An 11-game loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday came the following campaign, before he was one of seven senior players released by the Black Cats upon their relegation from the Premier League in 2017.

Still only 27, Buckley then moved to Bolton Wanderers, where he made 62 appearances and scored six goals across three seasons with the Trotters. Buckley was part of the Bolton squad who suffered back-to-back relegations to League Two across the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons.

He was then released upon the expiry of his contract in the summer of 2020, and has not played since.

It’s fair to say that the way Buckley’s career has tailed off is something which isn’t nice to see for a player who once looked like he was capable of going on and being effective at the top level.

Given his form at Brighton over the years, you can’t blame Sunderland for wanting to hand him an opportunity to showcase his talent in the Premier League. However, with the way his time at the Stadium of Light played out, plus the trajectory of his career since then, they must surely regret parting with a significant fee to bring him in.