Sunderland are back in the Premier League for the first time since their 2017 relegation, and one of the stars of their rise back to the top flight is a top option for Everton's desire to improve its fullback situation.
Trai Hume has been at Sunderland since he was 19, getting his first sniff of professional football with a few League One cameos in 2022. The following season, the Black Cats were back in the Championship, and Hume eventually settled in as a starter for the final stretch of the season, and ended up with 32 appearances and 27 starts across all competitions for the club.
The next season saw the Northern Ireland international as a surefire starter from the beginning of the campaign, a year that saw him play at both fullback slots (although primarily on the right side), wingback, centerback, and even some sliding into the midfield as Sunderland followed up a trip to the playoffs with a disappointing 16th place finish.
But this most recent season proved to be his breakout.
The then-22-year-old Hume played in 45 matches (44 starts) across all competitions, logging nearly 4000 minutes, while scoring three times (on an xG of 2.0) and adding 6 assists (on an xAG of 7.2) in helping get Sunderland back into the playoff, a tournament they'd win to secure their rise back into the Premier League.
For good reason, Everton are among a long list of teams, including Wolves and various La Liga clubs, who are interested in adding Hume to their mix.
Everton currently have maybe 1.5 fullbacks on the squad (Vitalii Mykolenko is the sole left back, with Seamus Coleman and Nathan Patterson, for various reasons, counting as the 0.5 on the right side), so it's a position they'll need to improve in. Hume would slide right in as the team's right back at this point without many questions asked.
But with Sunderland's promotion and Hume's current contract not running out until 2027, there's little reason for the Black Cats to sell him unless they are blown away by an offer. Even then, they might be more interested in sending him somewhere he couldn't torment them twice a season for the near future.
But the need is clear from an Everton perspective, and there's little doubt that Hume would be a solid addition, and one that could be around for many years to come. It may be difficult to convince Sunderland to part with the player, but it appears to be an effort worth making.