Sunderland’s terrific start to the season continued on Wednesday night as they beat Luton Town 2-1 at Kenilworth Road to keep themselves top of the Championship. The Hatters took the lead on the night through Elijah Adebayo, but two quickfire second-half goals from Chris Rigg and Romaine Mundle secured all three points for Regis Le Bris’ side.
“I am proud of the team spirit and the spirit of the fans because tonight we needed everyone because it was a big battle,” said Le Bris after the game.
One man the French coach was particularly impressed with was defender Chris Mepham. The 26-year-old, who is on-loan at the Stadium of Light from Premier League side Bournemouth, put in another sturdy display at the heart of the Black Cats’ defense, which didn’t go unnoticed by his boss.
“Chris was ready for this battle, I think,” Le Bris said. “He wasn’t alone, we needed everyone and it’s a question of personality, aggressiveness.”
Jewison Bennette not feeling the love from Le Bris
While things might be going well for Mepham and plenty of other Sunderland stars, it’s not going quite so well for Jewison Bennette. The Costa Rica international, 20, joined Sunderland from Herediano in 2022, but has since struggled to make an impact at the Stadium of Light. This term, he’s played just nine minutes of first-team football, and has otherwise been limited to playing for Sunderland’s U-21s in the Premier League 2.
Amid his lack of game time, media in Bennette’s home country are now claiming his move to Sunderland has resulted in him being “completely forgotten” by his national team.
Bennette, who was in Costa Rica’s squad for the 2022 World Cup, hasn’t featured for the Tricolor since November of last year, when he played against Panama in the quarter-finals of the Concacaf Nations League. Media there claim that the likelihood of Bennette now being called back up is now slim, with the winger having gone from “fleeting growth to stagnating” at the Stadium of Light.
Bennette’s Sunderland career so far
Bennette’s Sunderland career got off to a good start, scoring in just his second appearance for the club against Watford. But soon, he found himself further and further from first-team action, and in January 2024 was loaned to Greek Super League side Aris Thessaloniki for the remainder of the season.
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His time in Greece quickly turned into a nightmare, however. After making just two appearances for Aris, he was dropped. According to Bennette himself, he was dropped after complaining about the Greek club breaching his contract.
“When I arrived at Aris I started two games and after that they had to pay my salary, my house and my car. I complained to Sunderland and they were upset about that, so they started to leave me out and left me off the list,” the winger told Teletica in May.
He added of Aris: “I had to take out my savings to pay for my expenses, house and car there, they are irresponsible.”
