According to Talksport, Sunderland pulled out all the stops to sign Didier N’Dong from Lorient, finally succeeding with a fourth bid of €20m plus bonuses. The Black Cats have obviously seen something they like in the 22-year-old midfielder, with his ability to win the ball and cover ground drawing comparisons with N’Golo Kante:
| Didier Ndong | versus | N'Golo Kante |
| MID | POSITION | MID |
| 22Y 2M | AGE | 25Y 5M |
| 5FT 7IN | HEIGHT | 5FT 7IN |
| 11ST 11LB | WEIGHT | 10ST 11LB |
| FL | LOR | | | LEI | PL | ||||
| 06/15 - 06/16 | 06/15 - 06/16 | ||||
STARTS | ||||
MINS PLAYED | ||||
GOALS | ||||
ASSISTS | ||||
OPENING GOALS | ||||
WINNING GOALS | ||||
HOME GOALS | ||||
AWAY GOALS | ||||
HEADED GOALS | ||||
GOALS R/L FOOT | ||||
MINS PER GOAL | ||||
TOTAL |
Although the fortunes of their two teams were very different last season, both men played a similar amount of football in Ligue 1 and the Premier League respectively. Like the former Leicester star, the Gabon international provides an athletic presence in the engine room, whilst his determination can help to lift those around him.
THOUGHTS
To expect any player to make a similar sort of impact to the one that Kante did at the King Power Stadium last term would be foolish. That said, N’Dong should give Sunderland more legs in midfield, enabling them to transition more quickly from defence into attack. The fee paid for the 22-year-old means that he will be expected to hit the ground running, so it will be interesting to see how he copes with that sort of pressure to perform.
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