Sunderland boss explains his surprise Callum Styles decision and what's next for January signing

Mike Dodds admits he is still assessing the best way to integrate Callum Styles into his Sunderland line up but says he saw some encouraging signs even in defeat at Norwich City.

The Hungarian international has already shown his versatility in his first two appearances since joining the club on loan from Barnsley in January, playing at left wing back against Swansea City before moving over to the right wing at the weekend.

While the interim head coach says the latter experiment didn't quite yield the rewards he was hoping for, he felt there was some encouraging moments. And he made clear that Styles is likely to play in a variety of roles between now and the end of the campaign. "We're still getting to know Callum, I'll be honest with you," Dodds said.

"He's got really good technique, when he was at Barnsley he played so many positions. He played left back, left wing back, as an eight, he went on loan to Millwall and played predominantly down the left side.

"We used him off the right but obviously in a very narrow position in and out of possession because of some of the threats that Norwich had with the ball, and we also felt that he could pick up some dangerous positions when we had it. The pleasing thing from the game was that we did do that at times, albeit not frequently enough. What we worked on I did see pockets of. Callum, fortunately or unfortunately [for him], is very versatile and as a head coach those kinds of players were worth their weight in gold. You can slot him into different positions on the pitch and he is a great kid, he asks a lot of questions. Right now if I'm being brutally honest I don't know exactly what his best position is, I know where he's played previously and we've got to find the best way to utilise him here."

Sunderland have an option to make Styles' move permanent in the summer transfer window.