Sunderland add depth at left back with the signing of Arthur Masuaku

Well, we wanted some depth and Premier League experience, and it looks like we’re getting some!

31 year-old left back Arthur Masuaku - who has spent the last three seasons in Turkey with Besiktas - is the next new player through the door at Sunderland, apparently signing a two year deal having passed a medical on Friday.

The former West Ham man played 128 times for the Hammers over a seven year period before departing in 2022, and already has a marra or two in the Sunderland squad, having lined up alongside Noah Sadiki for the DR Congo national team over recent years.

He was released by Besiktas at the end of last season, but was virtually an ever present and played 47 games in total for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer during 2024-25.

What does this mean? Well, he brings an awful lot of top flight experience to the table which cannot be sniffed at, and from what we read, he’s very good going forward. Defending is not his forte, apparently, but I expect that he’ll mostly be called upon to provide backup to Reinildo, so I won’t worry too much about that.

Interestingly, it does raise a question or two about Dennis Cirkin, who has entered the last year of his Sunderland contract. How fit is he? Is the plan to move him on? Will he sign a new contract? Is this just the club insuring themselves in the event that we get a bad injury in those full back positions? Time will tell.

I don’t think we’ve signed a world beater here and I don’t expect this to have the world of football talking about Sunderland in the same way some of the other deals we’ve done have, but this is still a relatively solid signing and the kind that I’d expect us to make several more times as the rest of August progresses. Not every player we sign can be a £20m superstar, and we’re going to need the odd squad player here and there to make sure we’re well stocked for the season ahead.

What do you think about the signing of Arthur Masuaku? Let me know in the comments below.