James Copley: Sunderland academy exits feel harsh - but they reveal the brutal truth about club’s rise
Sunderland’s academy pathway is changing as the club adapts to the Premier League and prepares for European football
There is a natural instinct to feel disappointed whenever a high-profile young Sunderland player is released or moves on.
That feeling is even stronger when the player is local, has been at the club for years, or has done everything asked of him. Jake Waters, Harrison Jones, Zak Johnson, Timur Tutierov and others are all different cases, but together they speak to the same wider truth: Sunderland’s academy pathway is changing. That is not necessarily a criticism of the academy. In many ways, it is a reflection of the club’s rapid rise.
Sunderland are no longer a League One club trying to rebuild. They are no longer a Championship club searching for a way back. They are a Premier League club preparing for European football, with a first-team squad that is stronger, deeper and more expensive than at any point in recent memory. That changes everything for young players.
When Dan Neil and Anthony Patterson broke through, Sunderland were in a very different place. Both deserve enormous credit for taking their opportunities and becoming important first-team players, but the level around them was lower and the margin for development was greater. There was room for young players to make mistakes, grow into the team and learn on the job.
That room still exists at Sunderland, but there is less of it now. The level has gone up. The stakes have gone up. The competition has gone up. Unless a young player is genuinely exceptional, it is very difficult to play teenagers regularly in the Premier League. Even with Europa League football adding more games to the calendar, the reality is that Sunderland will still need senior depth, physical readiness and players capable of handling high-level pressure immediately.
That is what makes some of the current academy decisions feel so harsh. Harrison Jones is very highly regarded. Régis Le Bris likes him, has wanted him around the first-team squad and clearly sees qualities in him. Luke O’Nien has raved about his attitude. Yet Jones may still have to move on to play the senior football his development now needs.
Zak Johnson is an England youth international who has been around Sunderland’s first-team environment and gained valuable senior loan experience. Timur Tutierov has looked superb for the under-21s and has shown the kind of attacking quality that would ordinarily excite supporters. Waters, meanwhile, has battled back from two serious knee injuries and returned to regular football with real credit.
These are not players who have failed. In many ways, they are casualties of Sunderland’s success. That may sound brutal, but modern football is brutal. The better Sunderland becomes, the harder the pathway gets. The club can still love a young player, rate him highly, value his attitude and believe he has a future in the game - while also deciding that the next step of his career may need to come elsewhere.
That is why situations like Finn Geragusian considering his options should not come as a shock. It is not always about whether a player is talented. It is about timing and whether the player feels he will be afforded an opportunity in the first team. And that is the key point. Just because a player like Harrison Jones moves on, it does not make him an academy failure. It does not make Sunderland’s work with him a failure either.
Sometimes an academy success story is not a player making 300 appearances for Sunderland but is a young player leaving with good habits, strong standards, senior experience and enough grounding to build a career elsewhere. Sunderland have produced plenty of players who have gone on to thrive across the EFL, in Scotland, in non-league and beyond. That matters. It shows the club is doing something right. It shows players are being looked after, challenged and prepared for the realities of senior football.
The UK football landscape is littered with Sunderland academy successes to varying degrees. Jordan Pickford and Jordan Henderson are set to be part of England’s squad at this summer’s World Cup. John Egan has just been promoted to the Premier League with Hull City. Lynden Gooch is at Huddersfield Town, Duncan Watmore is considering his options after a long and fruitful spell in the EFL, George Honeyman has enjoyed a similarly steady career, Mikel Mandron is doing well in Scotland, and there are plenty more examples besides.
Martyn Waghorn and Trevor Carson are two others who spring to mind. Not everyone becomes Pickford or Henderson, of course, but that is not the only measure of academy success. Plenty have gone on to build strong, respectable careers in the game because of the grounding, standards and education Sunderland gave them. That should matter, too.
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The pathway now may look different. It may involve EFL loans earlier. It may involve using the local non-league system more strategically. It may involve allowing good young players to leave at the right time, with respect, support and a chance to start again. Sunderland’s challenge now is to make sure the academy remains aspirational without being unrealistic.
Young players still need to believe there is a route to the first team. Supporters still need to believe local talent can break through. But everyone also has to recognise that the bar has changed. The club’s rise is brilliant. It is also unforgiving. That is the difficult truth behind some of these academy exits. They are jarring because these players are talented. But in many cases, they are not signs of failure. They are signs of a football club moving into a different world.