Sunderland boss reflects on Jobe Bellingham's progress and has this exciting verdict

Tony Mowbray has praised Jobe Bellingham's maturity after the 18-year-old quickly established himself as one of Sunderland's key players.

Bellingham has been ever-present through Sunderland's first 11 Championship fixtures, and scored a match-winning brace against Rotherham United in August.

He has played a variety of roles for Mowbray, often the team's most advanced player in the absence of a senior striker in the early weeks of the season before more recently dropping into a deeper midfield role.

The head coach says that is testament to Bellingham's maturity and willingness to learn.

Sunderland have been eager to avoid any unnecessary comparisons to Jobe's older brother but Mowbray is nevertheless confident that the youngster is on the right path to fulfilling his obvious potential.

“He is very mature for his age," Mowbray said.

"He acts like a seasoned pro, and demands standards even in small sided games he wants to win. You can see he has a very focused driven though pattern on where he is going and how he is going to get there. And that is to try to be excellent in everything you do. It’s a great mentality.

"It helps our team to have someone so young. He is not in the team because of his name, it is his football ability and his competitive edge and athleticism and technique. He works hard every day. As coaches we want to protect him in three game weeks so sometimes when he comes off it is to give him a break. We should just enjoy the journey with him and see where he gets to as time rolls on.

"He doesn’t want to be compared with his brother, but we have coaches here who helped his brother as a 17-18 year old," Mowbray added.

"They can gauge where he is, and he has some amazing tools. If he listens, works hard and competes like he does he won’t go far wrong. He has confidence and belief and has a good football brain."

With Dan Neil suspended for the trip to Rotherham United after the international break Mowbray's options in central midfield will be limited, though there remains hope that Pierre Ekwah will have recovered from a leg injury in time.