I watched Sunderland's Wilson Isidor for three games - here's what I thought about his best position

It is still early days in Wilson Isdor’s Sunderland career but, to my eye at least, the forward looks better from the left.

The former Zenit man debuted for Sunderland in the Championship as a substitute at Fratton Park against Portsmouth and replaced goalscorer Romaine Mundle on the left-hand side of Régis Le Bris’ attack. Interestingly, it was Nazariy Rusyn who replaced Eliezer Mayenda through the middle as the game wore on.

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The 24-year-old looked bright when he entered the action and played like he had a point to prove, albeit with little time to impress fully given the nature of his introduction. Isidor was then given 67 minutes against Liverpool in the Premier League 2 under Graeme Murty... again from the left.

My colleague Jason Jones provided a wonderful description of Isidor’s talents and performance as Sunderland lost 3-2 at Eppleton on the night. It is true, Sunderland’s new signing looked a bright spark. He was full of running, looked sharp, and showed quality on the ball, displaying some lightning-fast feet and deft touches.

Interestingly, Isidor started again for the under-21s against Sheffield United in the Premier League 2 Cup. This time, though, the French forward was deployed through the middle but did not look as effective as he had done from the left against Portsmouth and the under-21s game versus Liverpool.

Playing as a striker, Isidor looked a little isolated from his teammates against Sheffield United and didn’t impact the game or catch the eye nearly as much as he did against Liverpool. Again, I have to stress that it is early days for Isidor at Sunderland and to judge him fully on 75 minutes playing for a youth side would be wrong.

And there is, in fairness, mitigation. Isidor has not yet had time to fully familiarise himself with Sunderland’s first-team squad, never mind the Black Cats youth team too. The game against Sheffield United was also less open than the clash against Liverpool. The Blades were quite happy to sit in for large parts, meaning Isidor did not see as much of the ball as he did against the Reds a couple of days earlier.

It was also just generally a poorer team performance by Sunderland’s kids. Several players had been involved with the squad and travelling party at Portsmouth, then playing against Liverpool on Monday and then Sheffield United on Friday. That seemed to show as the Black Cats struggled in the game.

There is no doubt in my mind that there’s a player there in Isidor from the limited minutes I’ve seen him play so far, though it is always tough to know for sure based on under-21 performances. Interestingly, though, the stats do suggest that while Isidor can operate through the centre, he is more effective from the left.

The player has netted 15 in 33 playing as a left-winger, an almost one-in-two game ratio. As a striker, Isidor has scored 23 in 68 during his career, which roughly works out as a goal every three matches. With striker Mayenda performing so well and Mundle scoring from the wing, it will be very interesting to see how Isidor is utilised by Le Bris going forward.