5 Inspired Sunderland Free Transfers (And 5 Total Disasters)

4. David Bellion

Okay, here's a slightly different take on what could actually qualify as an 'inspired' free signing. David Bellion spent two seasons on Wearside and only made 20 league appearances in red and white, scoring one goal. So how could that possibly warrant his inclusion here? Well, at a time when Sunderland were in financial and footballing meltdown, Bellion wanted to move on and stunningly Manchester United came in for the explosively pacey forward. They snapped him up on a free transfer, but had to pay compensation which started out at £2 million, possibly rising to £3 million. It says a lot about Sunderland's free transfer nous that he's one of the best purely because it was like Sunderland had bought a couple of million quid for nothing. Genius, really.