RANKED: Best French players to have played for Sunderland

For whatever reason, Sunderland are seeing a bit of an influx of French footballers right now.

Edouard Michut and Abdoullah Ba joined last summer and Pierre Ekwah arrived this month. Meanwhile, Ateef Konate and Isaac Lihadji are reported to be close to joining them.

Sunderland are a club with a good tradition of French players, though, so I thought it was an opportune time to rate the best of yesteryear.

8 - Patrice Carteron

In the grand scheme of things, Patrice Carteron was a very unremarkable player for Sunderland. He was only here on loan and, frankly, he was a bit crazy.

The right-back would pop up all over the pitch, almost as if he didn’t actually know what position he was supposed to be playing.

Gloriously, though, one of his wanders put him in the perfect place to score a memorable goal in a Wear-Tyne derby, and in doing so earned him a spot in Sunderland folklore.

7 - Lionel Perez

Speaking of players who liked to have a wander… the Sunderland career of Lionel Perez came to be defined by one.