The £35m monster final piece of Sunderland’s lavish summer transfer window puzzle is now obvious

Sunderland will not go gentle into that good night this Premier League season having shown more ambition than any newly promoted side since Nottingham Forest with a net spend of €98.9m (£85.7m), but one major need remains at centre-back.

Sunderland’s four most expensive signings of all time have all come in this window with two more recent additions also in the top 10 - as of the start of May that podium consisted of Didier Ngong, Asamoah Gyan and Steven Fletcher.

Only four of Sunderland’s starting lineup from Wembley look to be in Regis Le Bris’ strongest lineup ahead of the season, discounting injuries, and three of those are in defence with Black Cats’ midfield and attack undergoing an almost total transformation this summer.

Former Barcelona wonderkid Marc Guiu is probably the most high profile of the signings, poised to be Sunderland’s main hitman this campaign after impressing in flashes at both Camp Nou and Stamford Bridge but yet to play a thousand minutes of football in a season aged 20.

He’ll be flanked by explosive ex-Seagull Simon Adingra, who already has eight Premier League goals under his belt, and Chemsedine Talbi who starred in the Champions League knockouts last seasons for Club Brugge.

Backed up by a fearsome midfield featuring last season’s loan hero Enzo Le Fee, now a permanent resident in the north east, the vastly experienced Granit Xhaka and Habib Diarra who became the second player to break Sunderland’s transfer record this summer after Adingra.

Finally, Robin Roefs is the new face between the sticks marshalling a defence of existing players Dan Ballard, Luke O’Nien and Trai Hume.

And it’s that back four Sunderland must focus on for the rest of the window, as despite setbacks in their pursuits of Loic Bade, Bafode Diakite and Jhon Lucumi, a quality option remains in Fiorentina’s Pietro Comuzzo.

Sky’s the limit for Comuzzo

In a rampant summer for Le Bris and Sunderland that stands in stark contrast to their northern neighbours, centre-back has been the one area that they’ve resembled unwanted Eddie Howe and Newcastle in the transfer market.

Diakite, who would’ve been an absolute steal, looks set to join a Bournemouth side with money to burn and replace PSG-bound Illia Zabarnyi while both Lucumi and Loic Bade have simply rejected Kristjaan Speakman’s advances.

But Comuzzo is some third choice. Standing 6’1” tall at 20 years of age, the Italian played the full 90 minutes in five clean sheets and made 44 appearances across the campaign, also earning his first international call-up though he’s yet to play for Italy having been an unused substitute for the Azzurri on three occasions.

Comuzzo could definitely improve technically - though has the potential to do so at such a tender age - but without the ball he’s been titanic for Fiorentina. He was the third-best tackler in Serie A by success rate at 79.3%, well ahead of Lucumi, and ranked in the top 5% of centre-backs in Europe’s top five leagues in that category - equivalent to Nottingham Forest sensation Nikola Milenkovic.

So a frontline centre-back rotation of Comuzzo, Dan Ballard and Luke O’Nien would further boost Sunderland’s credentials as major candidates, but could they sign the Italian?

Centre-back cover a must for Sunderland

Ballard and O’Nien were sensational last season as the bedrock of the fourth-best defence in the Championship while contributing regularly (and famously) at the other end of the pitch too.

However, the club captain’s shoulder injury sustained at Wembley combines with fitness concerns for Aji Alese, Dennis Cirkin and Leo Hjelde means Ballard and Jenson Seelt are the only senior centre-backs to have featured in a pre-season of defeats, with Le Bris also forced to field academy players and full-backs at the position.

Comuzzo wouldn’t come cheap - Fiorentina are demanding around €40m (£34.7m) for the 20-year-old who has plenty of attachment to Tuscany himself.

When Manchester United were interested in Comuzzo in January, he instead signed a new contract with La Viola and told Radio FirenzeViola, (relayed by Quotidiano Sportivo): “The contract renewal was a strong signal from the club, a demonstration of respect. President [Rocco] Commisso is a wonderful person, and I have a special bond with him. When my mother passed away, he was one of the first to come and console me. This is also why I’m happy to have stayed here, in a city that is a second home to me.”

Meanwhile that outlay would push Sunderland’s net spend this window well past the £109.2m-£116.9m prize money that the three relegated Premier League teams received last season, putting them in danger of Profit and Sustainability Rules strife if they don’t survive.

Given the injuries and need for an upgrade, a free agent signing probably wouldn’t be the worst thing in addition to Comuzzo, Victor Lindelof remains on the market as does Kurt Zouma - although the Frenchman’s checkered past with domestic felines may not make him the most ideal fit for the Black Cats.

But Sunderland must also spend money to upgrade their backline and if they can tempt him, Comuzzo has all the raw materials to succeed in England and help the Wearside club beat recent history and the drop.