One Sunderland youngster has praised one of Regis Le Bris’ signings after giving ‘advice’ following first team call up.
Sunderland have got off to a brilliant start in the 2024/25 Championship campaign, and it is undoubtedly down to the role that Regis Le Bris has played since his arrival at the club.
It was evident that the French boss was being brought in due to his background of youth coaching, which saw him spend over a decade in the set-up at Lorient.
The Black Cats boss has most certainly lived up to his abilities involved with the youngsters, as shown by the tangible product of five wins out of six in the Championship so far this season, which is predominantly down to the brilliant performances so far by Chris Rigg, Romaine Mundle and Jobe Bellingham, alongside several more of the Sunderland ranks.
Another Sunderland youngster could soon be handed his first minutes this season after appearing on Le Bris’ bench in the Championship, and he has praised one new signing in particular following his promotion to the first team.
Sunderland academy product Trey Ogunsuyi praises Ahmed Abdullahi after first team call up
The last two Championship fixtures have seen the unrecognisable name of Trey Ogunsuyi on the bench, a 17-year-old striker who has previously notched nine goals across 36 appearances at youth level with Sunderland.
Although he is yet to be utilised from off the bench by Le Bris, he has still relished the opportunity of being in-and-around the first team, and has particularly praised new Sunderland signing Ahmed Abdullahi in recent weeks.
Per Sunderland Echo, Ogunsuyi said: “Those experiences will live with me forever. Being a part of that environment in terms of the travelling, training, the dressing room, it teaches you a lot.
“The group have been really good to me every time I’ve made that step up.
“There is a lot I can learn from these lads. He [Ahmed Abdullahi] had a lot of advice to give which I really appreciated. We spoke about positioning and getting those small advantages over the defenders.
“These guys are experienced and anything I can learn from them is really helpful.”
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Sunderland have perfected their approach to young players
Ever since Kristjaan Speakman and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus took charge in Wearside, they made it abruptly clear that all priorities would lie with the development of youngsters, with the eye of a financial benefit of selling them on following a successful spell at the club.
Whilst it took a couple of years to fully get in the swing of things, Sunderland have finally managed to set up a perfect and continuous process involving their youth ranks, which has been helped by Le Bris’ success rate of getting the very best out of them.
As seen from the exceptional strides made from the likes of Rigg and Dan Neil this season, there are no doubts that the likes of Ogunsuyi will be hoping that he can continue in the footsteps of his fellow Sunderland academy graduates.
The fact that other players are feeding into this by offering advice to the younger players shows that everyone has taken the club’s objectives on board, and there are no doubts that the long term benefits of this will be massive if it continues.