📌REPORT :Sunderland youngster names the 2024 signing who’s already given him ‘a lot of advice’

The Sunderland youngster has hailed one of Regis Le Bri’s signings after offering “advice” following a first-team call-up.

   Sunderland have made a great start to the 2024/25 Championship, which is no doubt due to the role Regis Le Bris has played since joining the club.

   It was clear that the French coach was brought in because of his background as a youth coach, having spent more than a decade in the Lorient set-up.

   The Black Cats boss has certainly lived up to his youth inclusion skills, as evidenced by the tangible product of five wins from six in the Championship so far this season, thanks in large part to brilliant performances so far from Chris Rigg, Romaine Mundle and Jobe Bellingham, along with some of Sunderland’s leaders.

   Another Sunderland youngster could soon get his first minutes of the season after making the bench for Le Bri in the Championship and welcomed the new signing, especially following his promotion to the first team.

   Sunderland academy product Trey Ogunsuyi praises Ahmed Abdullahi after being called up to the squad for the first time

   Trey Ogunsuyi, a 17-year-old striker who had previously scored nine goals in 36 games at youth level for Sunderland, was on the bench for the last two Championship games.

   Although Le Bris has yet to use him from the bench, he has still relished the opportunity to be in and around the first team and has been particularly vocal about new signing Sunderland’s Ahmed Abdullahi in recent weeks.

   According to the Sunderland Echo, Ogunsuyi said: “Those experiences will stay with me forever. Being part of that environment in terms of travel, training, dressing room, it teaches you a lot.

   “The band has been really good to me every time I’ve taken that step up.

   “I can learn a lot from these guys. He [Ahmed Abdullahi] had a lot of advice that I really appreciated. We talked about setting up and getting those little advantages in front of defenders.

   “These guys are experienced and anything I can learn from them is really helpful.”

   Sunderland have perfected their approach to young players

   Since Kristjaan Speakman and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus took charge of Wearside, they have suddenly made it clear that all priorities will be youth development, given the financial benefit of selling them after a successful spell at the club.

   Although it took a few years to fully come to fruition, Sunderland finally managed to create a seamless and seamless process involving their youth ranks, aided by Le Bri’s success in getting the best out of them.

   As evidenced by the remarkable strides Rigg and Dan Neil have made this season, there’s no doubt the likes of Ogunsuyi will be hoping he can follow in the footsteps of his fellow Sunderland Academy graduates.

   The fact that other players are buying into it by mentoring younger players shows that everyone has bought into the goals of the club and there is no doubt that the long-term benefits of this will be huge if this continues.