One Sunderland youngster could likely be handed first-team action this season.
Sunderland have had a brilliant start to the 2024/25 Championship season, with them currently sitting top of the table with four consecutive wins.
The similar-looking side to last season that struggled under both Michael Beale and Mike Dodds have massively improved, and Sunderland academy product Dan Neil has noticed the massive improvement on the defensive side.
The fact that academy-product Neil is leading out this Sunderland side as team captain and playing alongside fellow academyt graduate Chris Rigg in the centre-of-the-park still shows that the emphasis is still very much on ensuring that young talents are given the platform to thrive.
As a result, current players in the academy will certainly be optimistic about getting chances in the side, and there could be one attacking-midfielder waiting in the wings for Sunderland.
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Sunderland youngster Harrison Jones could be the next academy player to be called up
18-year-old winger Tom Watson has recently been given opportunities as part of the first-tea, with him being handed an EFL Cup substitute appearance in a 2-0 defeat to Preston North End.
However the 2006-born winger from Ashington certainly isn’t the only prospect in the academy, with midfielder Harrison Jones certainly expected to be handed more first-team opportunities.
Jones joined Watson for his EFL Cup appearance, getting 20 minutes of action at the end of the game.
He was also included on the bench for Sunderland’s away victory against Plymouth Argyle, although he was unused as a substitute.
Harrison Jones will be optimistic about his chances under Regis Le Bris
It is clear that there aren’t many better coaches in the Championship when it comes to nurturing young players, and that is the exact reason why Kristjaan Speakman sought to bring in Regis Le Bris in the first place.
His experience of over a decade as part of Lorient’s youth-coaching set-up certainly will have held him in good stead for the top job on Wearside, and he will certainly put those skills into practice by looking towards the academy.
Jones has already been handed the opportunity to play first-team football under Le Bris, and the fact that this was followed up by the 19-year-old being included on a Championship bench is a show of faith from the French boss, and as a result there would be no surprises if at some point this season he was given the opportunity to shine in the league.
Le Bris certainly won’t rush into a decision on Jones, but the fact that the youngster has previously notched 23 appearances in the Premier League 2, scoring seven goals will certainly help his case in looking for more first-team action.