Jack Ross on the Sunderland youngsters who could benefit from a loan move this month

The youngsters fell to a 2-1 defeat against Norwich City in their opening game on Sunday, with a strong side including the likes of Elliot Embleton, Benji Kimpioka and Bali Mumba.

For various reasons, those three are set to stay on Wearside for the forseeable future, but Ross believes it is time for a handful of players to increase their experience of senior football.

Jack Bainbridge, Jake Hackett and Jack Diamond could all be in line for moves, while in pre-season Ross mentioned young midfielder Ruben Sammut as one who could benefit.

Diamond spent time on loan at Spennymoor last season.

LONG READ: Elliot Dickman explains how Sunderland’s loan system works

“Any decisions on those players is a collective decision between me, my staff and Elliot [Dickman],” Ross said.

“I’ve regular dialogue with Elliot but James [Fowler] and John [Potter] are more hands on with it.

“Elliot will stay with me. He’s part of the first team squad and he’ll get opportunities this season, I’ve been really pleased with how he’s been since he came back.

“With Bali I’ve said that we believed that he would benefit from having the first six months as a proper U23 because he missed out on that last season, he did well on Sunday and I think it’s good for him.

“Benji we’ve obviously had some contractual stuff ongoing that hasn’t been resolved so that could have a bearing on what happens.

“There are others, like Jack Diamond and Jake Hackett, Jack Bainbridge, all of those at the higher end of the U23s, they need to go out on loan and benefit from that.

“We’ve seen that it helps players and they’re the ones who would benefit most from it and would be the ones that could potentially go out between now and the end of the month.”

Embleton played in the U23 side after missing out on selection against Portsmouth, and Elliot Dickman told the Echo afterwards it had been the player’s request to feature.