There may be a familiar face in the Sunderland starting XI when West Ham United kick off the 2025/26 Premier League campaign with a trip to Regis Le Bris’ newly-promoted Black Cats.
And if Sunderland’s rather unexpected return to the top-flight after nearly a decade away owes much to an inspired recruitment policy, then Aji Alese would be a fitting – if somewhat unfashionable – posterboy for that Wearside rise.
Sunderland, the days of splurging big fees and big wages on uninterested mercenaries long gone, made it their mission to turn the Stadium of Light into ‘the place to be’ for hungry young talent on the lookout for a chance at senior level.
Take Alese, for instance.
Youth coach Mark Robson knew Alese was an ‘outstanding’ footballer. And when West Ham United greenlit the £500,000 sale of the promising centre-half in 2022, the feeling among many supporters was that David Moyes had just sold the future of his Hammers backline.
At that point, though, 21-year-old Alese had only featured twice in the first-team. And never in the Premier League.
Aji Alese left West Ham United for first-team football at Sunderland
Now, the former England Under-20 international can look forward to a long-awaited top-flight debut against the club where he began his professional career. West Ham will travel to Sunderland in the new campaign’s curtain-raiser.
Now, they say patience is a virtue. But in this case, Aji Alese is proof of the occasional value of impatience.
Despite being hit hard by injuries of late – he broke his leg in January and therefore missed the entire play-off campaign – a now-24-year-old Alese should return in time for the opening weekend in August.
And, when looking back at his reason for leaving West Ham, it is difficult to argue against a decision which gave Alese access to the kind of sustained first-team football which appeared out of reach back home in London, regardless of how highly David Moyes may have thought about him.
Alese described Sunderland switch as ‘amazing’ back in 2022
By his own admission, Moyes could not envisage a major role for Alese in his senior plans. Not with Kurt Zouma, Angelo Ogbonna, Thilo Kehrer and new £30 million signing Nayef Aguerd all ahead of him in the pecking order.
“[Joining Sunderland] is amazing. I’ve known about the interest for a few weeks and I’m happy it’s finally done,” Alese said shortly after putting pen to paper and talking with director Kristjaan Speakman, the man largely responsible for turning the Black Cats into the EFL’s chief developer of young talent.
“[Leaving West Ham] was a bit sad. Fourteen years is more than half my life and it’s difficult to say goodbye, but goodbyes are part of life and it’s time to move on.
“I live five minutes away from West Ham’s training ground and I’ve been there since the age of eight, so it could have been easier to stay. But life isn’t easy and I’m ready for the challenge.
“I spoke to [manager] Alex Neil, Kristjaan Speakman and [head of recruitment] Stuart Harvey and I got a great feeling about Sunderland. This is the place I want to be.”
Should Alese make his Premier League bow against the club where he spent the first 14 years of his footballing life, that will also take him to within touching distance of a half-century of Sunderland appearances.
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