Lothar Matthaus cannot believe who has been allowed to sign for Sunderland this summer

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Sunderland have pulled off some impressive signings this summer.

Simon Adingra – Man of the Match in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final and also Best Young Player at the competition – was lured to Wearside from Brighton, while Habib Diarra arrived from Strasbourg too in a record £30m deal for the Black Cats.

However, the legendary Lothar Matthaus has been left shocked by another signing made by Sunderland – Granit Xhaka.

Lothar Matthaus stunned Bayer Leverkusen sold Granit Xhaka

The Switzerland international made a surprise return to the Premier League in July when moving to Sunderland in a £17.3m deal.

Despite Bayer Leverkusen selling the likes of Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong to Liverpool – also losing Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid – the iconic German felt Xhaka could have been kept.

Matthaus told SportBild: “Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid. Jonathan Tah to FC Bayern. Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong to Liverpool. Lukas Hradecky to Monaco, and then Granit Xhaka to Sunderland! I can hardly remember seeing a more drastic upheaval at a top team.

“Most of the departures are understandable and couldn’t have been prevented. I just don’t accept that in Xhaka’s case! Erik ten Hag must accept the criticism of not fighting harder for the strategist and the heart of the team.”

Bayer Leverkusen No.14 Patrik Schick agrees with Matthaus – telling a different German news outlet in Blick: “I think that’s the biggest loss. He (Xhaka) was the most important player for the whole team. He was a leader. He was the player with the most experience.”

Erik ten Hag was adamant Granit Xhaka would not move to Sunderland

Xhaka embarrassed Ten Hag by moving to the Stadium of Light just a matter of hours after the Dutchman said there would be no more exits.

The 55-year-old sternly told BILD: “His agent can say whatever he wants, but this club has already let three important players go, and we won’t let any more go. Granit is a leader, he still has three years left on his contract here

“It is clear. Granit is a key player, he signed here for five years and still has three years left on his contract. He’s too important to us to let him go.”

With so many key Bayer Leverkusen figures discussing this deal more than the British record £116m fee for Wirtz, Sunderland fans should start to feel they might well have made the signing of the summer.