Graeme Murty has revealed Enzo Le Fée’s growing influence on Harrison Jones after being asked about future transfer plans

Graeme Murty says Sunderland will carefully assess Harrison Jones’ development before deciding whether the midfielder should leave on loan – while praising the influence of Enzo Le Fée on the 20-year-old’s progress.

Jones played the full 90 minutes during the under-21s’ 2-2 draw with Anderlecht at the Stadium of Light, having been an unused substitute for the first team at Chelsea last weekend. The academy graduate has made seven senior appearances for Sunderland so far, including a start in the Carabao Cup defeat to Huddersfield Town, but has yet to feature in the Premier League.

Murty, though, says Jones’ attitude and application have impressed everyone within the club. "His application is fantastic, and it's one of the things that you first notice about him, and then when you get over the fact that he works really hard as an athlete, you get to see his receiving skills, you get to see the way he moves with the ball, you get to see his understanding and his technique.

“I think there are times when he can play quicker and there are times when he could be more selfish and I think, if I'm perfectly honest, he could have been the defining player in the game, three or four games down the line, should we say, once he's sharper but he's loving his opportunities with the first team, he's learning a great deal."

The Sunderland under-21s lead coach also highlighted how Le Fée has taken Jones under his wing in training, offering detailed technical insight to accelerate his development. "We had a fantastic conversation, himself and Enzo, about receiving skills and how you receive and how you manipulate the guy who's pressing you, how you roll your body, how you don't look at the ball, you look at your opponent's foot patterns and all that kind of stuff.

“It went on for about 20 minutes, and someone who doesn't know a lot of football would have found it incredibly boring and quite challenging, but it was fabulous for Harrison to get that insight into a player of that level. So for him to not only work with that every day but to get to interact and talk about it and then go and get to practice it here, I think, can only be really beneficial for his long-term development."

Jones is a player admired by head coach Régis Le Bris, but with fierce competition for places in midfield, Murty was asked whether a loan spell could be the next step in his progression. "I don't know, maybe,” Murty responded. “Everyone's path is different, and I think what we've done really well, touch wood, is assess their path based on their needs," Murty explained. "So if we perceive that they need to go and play more games, we will actually individualise their programme.

"If, as has happened with Harrison, the first team wants to keep him in, then fantastic. He'll learn and he'll develop within that environment, which is a fantastically intense, driven and high-standard environment. We also need to provide him with a vehicle to play. So we've done it, and obviously it has to fit in with his schedule, but when we get the opportunity.

We'll be dropping players in because every player, be it a first-team player, 21s player, 18s player, needs to have the vehicle that allows them to continue to hone their skills and be ready to be the next man up, because I think that's a really important factor in this. Being the next man up means that you may get an opportunity that you didn't see coming, that you can't plan for.

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“You just get called upon, and can you go and deliver? I think football history is littered with examples of young men who've stepped into the breach when it was unexpected and absolutely flown. So our job is to make sure that when that happens, they're not overawed by it. They actually embrace it, and they go and put their best foot forward."

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