Following the signings of defenders Sebastian Coates and Adam Matthews, Sunderland made Dutch international attacker Jeremain Lens their third new addition of the summer transfer window last week. The 27-year-old arrives on Wearside from Dynamo Kiev on four-year deal for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £8 million.
After completing his move to the Black Cats, Lens admitted that the chance to reunite with compatriot Dick Advocaat once again proved too good to turn down:
“I know Dick Advocaat very well from my time in Alkmaar and PSV. It will be the third time I’ve worked with Dick and at PSV I reached my best goalscoring season – 15 in the league – so I hope I will do the same now and score even more. Everybody knows he is a very good head coach and he also gets the best out of the players, and in my personal opinion he is a good coach for me as well because he can reach the qualities I have and make everything come out so I hope it will happen again.”
THE HISTORY
Lens played youth football for Spartaan, FC Omniworld, Ajax and AZ Alkmaar, before making his professional debut for the latter during the 2005/06 campaign.
After failing to score in 14 outings for the Cheese Farmers, he was sent out on loan to NEC in 2007/08, where he produced 13 goals and five assists in 37 league and play-off appearances. Returning to AZ the following year, he was restricted to just eight league matches (one goal, one assist) after undergoing foot surgery. The 2009/10 campaign was far more successful, with Lens’ 12 goals and eight assists from 32 matches earning him a move to PSV Eindhoven.
The pacey attacker would spend three seasons at PSV, racking up 34 goals and 37 assists in 96 league appearances before joining Dynamo Kiev in the summer of 2013. Lens was less prolific in the Ukraine, scoring 10 times and chipping in with 15 assists in 49 outings, although he was part of a successful league and cup double last season.
After narrowly missing out on selection for Holland’s 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup, Lens had to wait until August 2010 to make his international debut, although he did find the back of the net in a 1-1 draw against Ukraine. He was a regular member of the Dutch squad under Louis van Gaal, and made four appearances during the 2014 World Cup, although he only started once. Lens has made 30 appearances for Holland, scoring eight goals.
THE PROSPECTS
Given the outlay, it’s fair to say that Lens will be a key player for the Black Cats in the season ahead as he looks to reproduce his best form under Advocaat.
The Dutchman’s arrival is clearly designed to improve on the meagre 31 strikes that left the Wearsiders just three points clear of the drop zone in 2014/15. Whilst Advocaat acknowledged his compatriot’s versatility, the Black Cats boss admitted that Lens’ arrival should see him feature out wide in a three-man frontline:
“We have to think about whether we will stick with the 4-3-3. But Lens is not really a player for a 4-4-2. He can go in between the lines and likes going past his man. We don’t have that with (Connor) Wickham. Connor works his socks off, but he doesn’t go past players, he’s a different type of player. Lens is one who likes to chase players. He can play left and right. He can even play as a striker, sometime I used him like that at PSV. But left or right is his best position because he is always a threat there. We haven’t had that.”
With Lens looking nailed-on, then, and adding a much-needed injection of trickery and pace, it looks like Emmanuel Giaccherini, Adam Johnson, Will Buckley and Connor Wickham will compete for the other wide role, though Wickham could be utilised through the middle, where he would vie with Jermain Defoe, Steven Fletcher and Danny Graham for the lone striker role.
As mentioned above, Lens’ creativity will also be vital for the Wearsiders, having served up at least ten assists in four of his last five seasons. Last term, left-back Patrick van Aanholt led the way for assists (five) at the Stadium of Light club, with the Black Cats midfield managing just 15 assists between them.
Given his pedigree – and the possibility of playing as a second striker – it’s no real surprise that Lens has been handed a price tag of 6.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), making him the most expensive Sunderland player in the game. That places him alongside the likes of Crystal Palace pair Yannick Bolasie and Yohan Cabaye, and with the Eagles a much more attack-minded outfit following the appointment of Alan Pardew, Fantasy managers may take some persuading to invest in Lens until there is some evidence of improvement from Sunderland in the final third.
Certainly, the opening schedule has smiled kindly on the Wearsiders and sees Advocaat’s side face only two of last season’s top seven in the first ten Gameweeks. With clashes against Leicester, Norwich, Villa, Bournemouth, West Ham, West Brom and Newcastle over that period, we should get a fair idea of Lens’ potential in the tricky mid-price bracket, though for now, many will feel the Black Cats’ defence – which served up 13 shut-outs in 2014/15 – may be the better value option to begin with.
