Unlike a lot of clubs in the English Football League, Sunderland have a clear and defined vision.
Whether it’s the vision of the often-branded ‘model’, which not all Sunderland fans like to hear, it’s widely agreed that the club does have a clear plan in place.
That plan focusses around youth; development, promotion, and recruitment, and in the last couple of years we’ve seen huge benefits of the plan.
Sunderland under owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman have recruited and promoted a number of youngsters who’ve since gone on to become very valuable assets.
Over the summer, the Black Cats had a number of players they could’ve cashed in on and claimed huge profits for.
In the end, Jack Clarke’s move to Ipswich Town proved to be the only major player sale, with Sunderland receiving a initial £13.5million for Clarke which was disappointing, but still a big mark-up on what they paid.
Sunderland rank 20th in emerging youth football study
Earlier this month, a study by Football Observatory ranked Jobe Bellingham and Milan Aleksic within the top 100 youngsters in world football right now.
Now, the same outlet has released a new study, in which Sunderland rank 20th in the whole world for % of minutes played by players under the age of 21, since September 2021 up to now.
Sunderland boast a percentage of 22.2 whilst the team in 1st, Ukrainian outfit Rukh Lviv, boast a percentage of minutes played by U21s players of 41.1.
Sunderland have fielded 23 U21 players during the same timeframe which keeps them within the top 50 of world football.
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Sunderland are becoming global trendsetters
For both % of minutes player by U21 players, and number of U21 players fielded, Sunderland outperform the vast majority of some of Europe and the world’s top football teams.
For % of minutes played, Barcelona are the only ‘top team’ in Europe who outperform Sunderland, who are also the highest-ranked English team in that category, and the highest-ranked English team in the U21s fielded category too.
It’s an ode to Speakman’s fine work over the years and an ode to the vision laid out by the owners.
And the fact that Regis Le Bris is now working wonders with the players speaks volumes about the way Sunderland have gone about their recruitment too.
Sunderland are certainly a trendsetting club right now, and a formidable one in the Championship too.