'Really exciting' - Sunderland prospect praised by former Newcastle star following debut win with loan club

Darlington manager Steve Watson is excited by the prospect of playing a part in helping Sunderland youngster Matty Young launch what he hopes will be a successful career.

As revealed by The Echo on Saturday, the England Under-19 goalkeeper is expected to sign a new and improved contract at Sunderland during the summer, despite being the subject of interest from Premier League and Champions League winners Manchester City. That could lead on to the second loan spell of the youngster's career after he joined Darlington on a short-term deal on Friday afternoon.

For the time being, Young’s immediate focus is on helping Darlington in their bid to avoid relegation from the National League North and his temporary employers did themselves no harm on Saturday when they claimed a 4-0 win at North East rivals South Shields. Young experienced a quiet afternoon on his senior debut as the Quakers faced a Mariners side that were reduced to ten men just ten minutes into the game when captain Robert Briggs was shown a straight red card for denial of a goalscoring opportunity.

Darlington took until the second-half to make the most of their numerical advantage as Cedric Main and Will Hatfield found the net and late goals from Kallum Griffiths and former Sunderland and Middlesbrough academy forward Mitch Curry put further shine on a big win for their side. Young will spend the next month with Darlington and could make up to eight further appearances for the Quakers before returning to Sunderland to train alongside the Black Cats’ senior goalkeepers throughout the remainder of the season.

Former Newcastle United star Watson is relishing the opportunity of working with the highly-rated youngster and revealed he has been left with a positive early impression from the young stopper.

He told The Echo: “It’s a big chance for him and it’s really exciting for us to play a part in a young lad’s career that will hopefully go on to do great things. What you did see from him today was that he’s a very good decision-maker, he’s very composed and he kicks and throws the ball very well. For the age of him, I’m very excited to see how he progressed with us and also when he goes back to Sunderland.

“I met him on Friday with Ben, his agent, and if nobody told me how old he was I would have thought I was speaking to a 22-year-old or 23-year-old goalkeeper. Not just how he looks or the stature of him, but how he carries himself and how he speaks about the game. He wanted to know how we play out, how we defend and you can tell he’s a grounded young lad with a really good football brain.”

Young is likely to get another chance to shine for Darlington when they travel to Boston United on Tuesday night.