Lee Cattermole’s premature departure from Sunderland may have shocked the majority of Sunderland supporters.

In reality, though, the midfielder’s exit was anything but premature and perhaps ought to have been done before their first season in League One.

Sunderland kept hold of the likes of Bryan Oviedo, Aiden McGeady and Cattermole in the hope that they would return back to the Championship at the first time of asking.

In turn, they didn’t and have instead been forced to let an assured fan favourite leave the club with two years remaining on his contract. The move is understood to be purely financially driven - Cattermole was believed to be their highest earner on £40,000-a-week.

This is simply too much for any League One club and expensive even for a decent Championship player. In fact, it has been estimated that before Cattermole’s departure that Sunderland were heading for their second season in League One on a £14 million wage bill.

All this and more means that Sunderland fans may have to prepare themselves for a few more unfortunate departures like Cattermole.

McGeady and Oviedo both had more than respectable seasons in the League One and gave a great account of themselves which may coax some interest from the top two divisions.

As much as Sunderland would like to keep hold of their most talented players in a bid to earn promotion, they have to think financially first and that could arguably mean selling both of them.

If reasonable offers come in for either/both of them, Jack Ross and the rest of the Sunderland staff must seriously consider taking it. They were unfortunate not to receive any offers for their top players last season due to their Championship demise but may attract some attention this season after finishing in fifth.

As harsh as it may seem, they have actually started the transfer window exactly how they needed to in offloading their highest paid player and bringing in a free agent in the form of international defender Conor McLaughlin.

The 34-cap Northern Ireland player is an experienced defender who has joined the Black Cats from Millwall. As sad as it may seem, these types of signings combined with academy youth players is exactly what Sunderland need to do to balance the books whilst still giving themselves the best shot at promotion.