I watched Trey Ogunsuyi play for Sunderland U21s - he could be the striker gem they have been crying out for

August 30th, the transfer deadline rapidly approaches. Daylight wanes, and with it, seemingly, so too do the last vestiges of rational thought. Luis Hemir - a player who saves his best form for five minute bursts in pre-season friendlies, and who has made a habit of trundling around at the point of attack for Sunderland’s U21s in recent months - signs for Juventus. The whole of Wearside does a collective double take.

Of course, more specifically, the towering striker left the North East for Juve’s developmental squad in the dying embers of the summer window; it will be a long time before he is rubbing shoulders with the likes of Dusan Vlahovic and Douglas Luiz in Turin, if he ever reaches that juncture at all. Nevertheless, you suspect that with negotiating skills like these, there could be a Nobel Peace Prize in his agent’s future at some point.

I bring all of this up because on Wednesday evening I made the usual trek to Eppleton to watch Sunderland U21s host Borussia Monchengladbach in the Premier League International Cup. The Black Cats were soundly beaten 3-0 by a side who contained several talents who have already dabbled in the Bundesliga, and for the most part, it was a fairly forgettable - if not entirely fruitless - outing for Graeme Murty’s fledgling side.

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One man - more of an adolescent, in truth - who really stood out, however, was Trey Ogunsuyi. The teenage striker was again trusted to lead the line despite his tender years, and the contrast between himself and his predecessor, Hemir, could not be sharper. Were it not for the Portuguese’s departure, Ogunsuyi would likely have spent the vast majority of this season rebounding between the U18s and the occasional cameo appearance for the U21s. With every passing display it becomes more and more apparent that such a fate would have been a crying shame - and a considerable injustice.

The first thing you notice about the 17-year-old is his movement. He is constantly looking to receive the ball with his back to goal, equally willing to spin and disrupt the last defender with a guileful run off the shoulder and in behind. In the box, he is reminiscent of a street hustle involving three cups and a ball - there and accounted for one moment, then decidedly not and somewhere else entirely the next. It is very easy to forget that Ogunsuyi is as young as he is because, to put it simply, he does not think or act like somebody as young as he is. By comparison, Hemir’s contributions felt positively glacial.

And then there is the Sunderland starlet’s work when he is in possession. Ogunsuyi has a happy knack of firing shots off when he has no feasible right to do so. He uses his precocious physicality so well - holds off defenders with a freakish ease, batters and battles his way into the tiniest hint of a viable space before pulling the trigger and sending an effort rocketing goalwards. On another night, he might well have scored a brace against Monchengladbach, and yet, it is no criticism of him to say that he didn’t, such were the cunning and graft that went into carving out his chances in the first place.

But perhaps the most impressive thing about Ogunsuyi’s showing in midweek was his defensive toil in Sunderland’s attacking third. On innumerable occasions, the forward caught his man dallying on the ball or stabbed at a lax pass with an outstretched toe or simply caused so much panic with his inexhaustible grit that Monchengladbach were forced into unwillingly turning over possession in a dangerous area of the pitch. Combine that with the untroubled manner in which Ogunsuyi links play with those around him - a five-yard pass here, a deft touch into the path of a charging run there - and suddenly the young striker is as much a platform on which the Black Cats can build as he is a scorer of goals.

Last weekend, Ogunsuyi found himself in Regis Le Bris’ first team plans, warming the bench as Sunderland suffered a defeat at the hands of Plymouth Argyle. If he continues to produce performances of this ilk on a regular basis, he might just end up staying there. Beyond that, you really do get the feeling that a starting berth could one day be his for the taking.