“Staggering…” – Sunderland fan pundit picks out player that never lived up to the hype | OneFootball

Sunderland broke the League One transfer record to sign Will Grigg on January 2019 deadline day but things did not play out as either the player or the club will have wanted.

Brought in to replace Josh Maja and fire the Black Cats back to the Championship, Grigg, who had a phenomenal goalscoring record in the third tier, struggled to find his feet in a red and white shirt.

By the time he left the Stadium of Light permanently in the summer, he’d scored just eight goals in 62 appearances for the North East club.

Grigg’s struggles were immortalised in the Sunderland Til’ I Die TV series but supporters will have their own memories of a big-money signing gone wrong.

FLW’s Sunderland fan pundit Jack Austwicke certainly does and picked out the Northern Ireland international when asked to select a player that never lived up to the hype at the Stadium of Light.

He said: “We’ve had a few over the years but the one that stands out for me and will stand out for most Sunderland fans has got to be Will Grigg – especially in recent times.

“The fact he was bought for £3 or £4 million and expected to get the goals to power us up to the Championship after Josh Maja left. I think in the four years he was here he scored a combined total of eight goals.

“That’s about 500k per goal for him. The expectation compared to the reality was staggering, absolutely staggering difference.

“As I say, we’ve had a few players like that over the years that have never really done what they should’ve done.”