Sunderland agree Alderete deal as promoted clubs’ spending to top £300m

Sunderland have agreed a £10m deal to sign defender Omar Alderete from Spanish side Getafe with a further £900,000 in add-ons.

The 28-year-old’s move is subject to a medical and he is expected to sign a four-year deal at the Stadium of Light.

The move adds a left-sided centre-back to manager Regis le Bris’ squad as they look to strengthen, having earned promotion back to the Premier League by winning the Championship play-off final in May.

Once the deal is concluded, Paraguay defender Alderete will become Sunderland’s 11th signing of the summer for a total expenditure in the region of £132m.

Nottingham Forest hold the record for the most transfers by a Premier League club in one window – the 21 signings made in the summer of 2022 – as well as the biggest outlay by a team promoted to the Premier League, the approximate £142m they spent bringing those players in three years ago.

Sunderland’s new arrivals include former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka, former Brighton winger Simon Adingra and club record signing Habib Diarra.

That is balanced by a number of high-profile sales, with Jobe Bellingham joining Borussia Dortmund and Tom Watson moving to Brighton for a combined total in the region of £37m.

Once Alderete’s transfer is completed, it will take spending by the three newly promoted clubs to over £300m this summer.

Excluding Alderete, the Black Cats have paid out an estimated £122m on 10 players. Burnley have brought in 13 new faces at a cost of approximately £100m, while Leeds have invested £73.5m on seven signings.

There is little doubt that consolidating top-flight status is harder than ever, with the gulf between the Championship and Premier League continuing to widen. In each of the previous two seasons, the three sides that came up went straight back down.

As a consequence, clubs are spending ever increasing sums in the hope of remaining competitive, but with no guarantee it will pay off.