€20m fee - Why Sunderland have unearthed gem in signing wonderkid Chemsdine Talbi

Sunderland have won the race to sign Club Brugge wonderkid Chemsdine Talbi in a major coup for the Tyne and Wear club. Talbi burst on the scene with a brace in the Champions League knockout stages last season and has been tracked by some of Europe’s biggest clubs. But Sunderland have completed  a deal for a fee of €20 million plus add-ons,  as they revamp their squad ahead of their Premier League return.

Sunderland’s recruitment has been impressive this summer with promising talents Habib Diarra arriving from Strasbourg and Noah Sadiki joining from Union SG. The Black Cars strategy of acquiring starlets with huge potential to develop is clear and Talbi fits that billing. And we’ve provided a detailed analysis of the 20-year-old with expert insight from Belgian football expert and former Club Brugge scout, Bart Tamsyn.

Who is Chemsdine Talbi?

Talbi is one of the emerging talents in Belgian football and he enjoyed his maiden full season in professional football during the 2024/25 campaign. The 19-year-old only made nine appearances in 23/24 but he racked up 44 games last campaign, contributing 12 goal contributions. Talbi is a diminutive right-winger with excellent technical skills and he joined a prestigious list by netting a Champions League brace as a teenager against Atalanta. He became the fourth youngest player to score a brace in the competition behind Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland and Nicolo Zaniolo. His brilliance in Bergamo continued an impressive debut season and the young Belgian is a player to keep an eye on over the coming seasons as he has an extremely bright future.

Bart Tamsyn, Transfermarkt's Area Manager for Belgium, provided a glowing report on Talbi, stating: "Personally, I think he, together with Konstantinos Karetsas, is the best talent currently in Belgium. Since his performance in the first leg against Atalanta and becoming Man of the Match, not a day has gone by without him being featured in the Belgian newspapers. And very often, also among supporters on social media, an appeal to Vincent Mannaert, the technical director of the Belgian Football Association (and until a year ago CEO of Club Brugge), to ensure that he and Karetsas choose the Belgian national team.

On his best role, Tamsin added: "He is now played on the right side, but in my opinion he would be a little better if he came from the left side. Given his technicality, speed and right foot, he could then cut inside and shoot. The position of second striker, false striker, 9.5 or whatever you want to call it is also one of his options. One of his working points is the switch to defensive work. Last weekend at STVV he did not pay enough attention to his direct opponent who could make it 2-0 (final score ultimately 2-2 with a goal from Club Brugge in minute 91). Yesterday he was also just a little too far from Zappacosta who gave the assist for the goal of Atalanta. Because they were under so much defensive pressure, I think the fact that he is not yet up to scratch defensively was the reason why he was replaced early in the second half for the more defensive-minded Hugo Siquet. But everybody agrees the best is yet to come and he is destined to be at the European top at some point."

Club Brugge’s brilliant record at developing players

Brugge have earned an outstanding reputation for developing younger players across recent years and it’s increasingly becoming an attractive destination for future stars. There’s an acknowledgement at the Belgian club that they can provide a pathway for starlets to make their name in European football before earning a move to a top five league club. Offering youngsters the platform to impress in European competition, especially the Champions League, and guaranteeing regular first-team is imperative in convincing players to move to Bruges.

Across the last five seasons, Brugge have sold ten players for transfer fees in excess of €10 million - all to top five league clubs. Moreover, Brugge have generated €277m from player sales since the start of the 2020/21 season. That ranks sixth in Europe from clubs outside the top five leagues with Benfica leading the way at €695m. Charles De Ketelaere’s €37.5m move to AC Milan is the Belgian club’s record sale and they have a number of extremely talented players within their squad with Talbi a potential star of the future.