This Sunderland youngster looks set to seal a loan exit before February 1st, with an option for his temporary club to make the deal permanent as well.
Sunderland kickstarted what looks set to be a busy final week of the window yesterday by loaning Jack Diamond to Carlisle United.
Michael Beale‘s side look set to do some buying and offloading before February 1st with Callum Styles poised to become the first signing of the Beale era.
But right now, it looks like more exits are in the pipelines, with Jewison Bennette looking like the next Sunderland player who could leave the Stadium of Light.
Jewison Bennette poised for Aris loan move
Michael Graham has reported for Sunderland Nation that Costa Rican youngster Bennette, 19, looks set to join Greek outfit Aris on loan until the end of the 2023/24 campaign, after Bennette was linked with a loan move to Hibernian.
After that, Greek football journalist Giannis Chorianopoulos confirmed the news, adding that Aris have a €3million (£2.56million) option to buy at the end of this season; Graham retweeted Chorianopoulos’ tweet.
Since joining from Costa Rican outfit Herediano in 2022, the 12-cap Costa Rica international Bennette has made 16 Championship appearances for Sunderland, though just one of those has come in this current campaign.
Injury has hampered his time on Wearside but a loan move will keep his progression moving upwards and his career on track.
Bennette facing make or break 2024
It’s not been an easy ride for Bennette so far.
He came from the other side of the globe to join Sunderland, likely not knowing any English and leaving much of his family behind.
And he’s clearly a player with potential; Sunderland wouldn’t have signed him otherwise, and fans have seen it for themselves on occasions.
But Bennette has struggled to make much of an impact; this season especially with Sunderland having plenty of quality in the wide areas which is keeping Bennette out of the side.
And it’s easy to forget that he’s still only 19, so a loan exit could do Bennette a world of good going forward.
Whether or not we’ll ever see him in a Sunderland shirt again remains to be seen.
He’s under contract until 2026 but if Aris are impressed enough, they could fork out the buying fee for Bennette and make him a permanent player.
It’s not exactly a small fee, especially for a player with as little experience as Bennette, and the Sunderland owners might yet prefer a sale in the summer.
Fans will be keeping a watchful eye on how Bennette performs in Greece.