Why Trai Hume will be gutted if Sunderland seal exciting £30m signing

Sunderland are yet to make a signing to bolster their squad for the 2026/27 campaign despite knowing that they need more depth for next season.

Qualifying for the Europa League means that the Black Cats will play at least eight more matches and will need to have multiple options in every position to ensure that Regis Le Bris can rotate his team and remain competitive in both competitions.

The French boss will also want to make sure that his side does not become complacent and that they continue to improve with new signings who can raise the ceiling.

One area of the squad that looks in need of strengthening before the end of the summer transfer window is the right flank, as Le Bris lacks natural options in that position.

Why Sunderland need to sign a new right winger this summer

The fact that Trai Hume started 11 matches, scoring one goal, in the Premier League as a right winger says all you need to know about Sunderland’s right wing depth.

Bertrand Traore also scored one goal for the Black Cats in the league as a right winger, playing 12 times, but he was released at the end of last season when his contract expired.

Chemsdine Talbi also played on the right side of the attack at times, after his £18m move from Club Brugge, but his best moments came from cutting in on his right foot from the left wing instead.

The Black Cats, therefore, need to sign a new right winger this summer because Traore is gone, Talbi is more effective on the other flank, and Hume is a right-back by trade.

As expected, the Northern Ireland international looked like a full-back being asked to play on the wing, as he rarely contributed at the top end of the pitch, and he should be solely used as a right or left-sided full-back.

How Sunderland can replace Trai Hume

The issue for Hume, though, is that he has Nordi Mukiele between him and starting regular at right-back, which means that the arrival of a new winger could be bad news for his game time.

Now, The Northern Echo reports that Sunderland have held talks Roma over a potential deal to sign Matias Soule in the summer transfer window for a fee of £30m.

The outlet claims that a deal has not been struck between the two teams but that there is confidence that an agreement can be reached for the Argentine forward.

It adds that the Black Cats are also working to agree personal terms with the player in the hope that they can convince him to turn down other options on the table to make the move to the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland’s pursuit of the 23-year-old forward will come as bad news for Hume because it could mean that he ends up being the second-choice option at both right-back and right wing in the 2026/27 campaign.

As aforementioned, the Northern Irishman may already be behind Mukiele in the right-back pecking order, as the Frenchman is being kept out of centre-back by Dan Ballard and Omar Alderete.

Now, the signing of Soule could also see him move down the pecking order on the right flank because the £30m-rated star has the quality to provide goals and assists on a regular basis from that position.

The Argentine gem scored 12 goals and provided 12 assists in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 campaigns combined for Roma, showing that he can offer goals and assists in equal measure from the right flank.

Soule also scored 11 goals and registered three assists in the Serie A for Frosinone in the 2023/24 season before his move to Roma in the summer of 2024, showing that he has consistently delivered quality in the final third across the past three seasons.

Whilst he is unproven in the Premier League, the Roma winger’s consistent output in one of Europe’s other major leagues suggests that he has a good chance to carry his form over to English football.

Bringing in a winger with the potential to be a regular starter who offers consistency at the top end of the pitch would harm Hume’s chances of playing in that position regularly in the Premier League next term.

It will, therefore, be interesting to see how many minutes the Northern Irishman gets next season if he ends up being behind Mukiele and Soule, should he sign for the club, in those two positions.