Some of the transfers that take place in the summer never cease to amaze me. The imminent transfer of Wigan defender Titus Bramble to Sunderland is one of those moves, but a closer look and it makes much more sense. Bramble of course used to play under Steve Bruce at Wigan, and the Sunderland gaffer obviously liked what he saw in the much-maligned defender. Just because the move makes sense, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a good one though, but could the acquisition of Bramble turn out to be a good little bit of business for the Black Cats?
Titus Bramble isn’t exactly held in the highest regard by Premier League fans around the country. His five years up the road at Newcastle were littered with numerous calamitous errors and the promise seen in him by Sir Bobby Robson never came to fruition. A string of poor performances resulted in the name of Titus Bramble becoming associated with that of an accident waiting to happen. Three years at Wigan have done little to change that feeling, although Bramble has clearly shown more consistency at the DW Stadium. Is he really the man to provide solidity at the heart of the Sunderland defence?
Steve Bruce clearly thinks so and given the defensive problems at the Stadium of Light Bramble will at least add to the numbers they have at the back. The 2009/10 Premier League campaign for Sunderland was blighted by injuries in defence, and a permanent deal for Ghana international John Mensah still looks some way off due to his long-term fitness problems. Bramble himself missed the end of last season due to a foot injury as well. But Sunderland were in need of a defender, and Bruce certainly hasn’t hung around in pushing through a deal for Bramble as they start to step up preparations for this season. However, is £1m for Bramble money well spent?
Ultimately given the small amount of money Sunderland are spending on Bramble compared to the cash being splashed around by other Premier League clubs, the Black Cats don’t have much to lose and stand to gain plenty if this long-shot comes off. It might just be that the 28-year-old now has the experience and has learnt from his mistakes (there have been plenty of them), but will a central defensive partnership with Michael Turner be a successful one? I think it might just transpire that Bruce gets stung by this Bramble transfer, and he won’t have any excuse for not seeing it coming!
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