When a player leaves your club on loan to another side it is usually to gain experience, playing time for a club of a stature lower to the players parent club. This isn’t the case for attacker Jeremain Lens.
The former Ajax winger is 28 years old with vast amounts of experience. If we look through the lens of his career, pardon the pun, before he came to Sunderland he managed 8 goals in 31 appearances for his country, Holland. At PSV he manged 34 goals in 96 appearances, at Sunderland he managed 3 goals in 20 appearances before he was required surplus to David Moyes plan.
Recently, Lens attracted media attention through his performances at on loan club Fenerbahce, racking up an impressive 4 assists in his first 4 starts. This week alone he gained the acclaim of player of the week in the Eurpoa League for his performance against Feyenoord.
This would be great news to hear if this was an untested youngster getting pitch time, but the facts are simple; Lens is an 8 million pound player. Another team is profiting from the clubs judgement of a player.
This begs the question, is the answer to Sunderland’s problems with a player that is out on loan? The answer is yes. Some may say it is too early to say, but whilst Watmore is finding his feet, still, on the wing for Sunderland and Gooch is adapting to Premier League life, there is proven winger, aged 28, with vast amounts of experience doing the business for a European team.
How can that not improve a bottom of the Premier League table Sunderland with just one point?
