Sunderland boss reveals why ex-Chelsea, Liverpool and Southampton players have joined - and makes transfer hint

Sunderland’s academy manager Robin Nicholls has delivered his verdict on three of the club’s youth signings this summer.

Sunderland recently revealed that Ivan Struk, Bayley Hester and Marcus Neill have signed up for the scholarship programme at the club.

Struk joined Sunderland towards the start of the 2023-24 season, initially on trial and then via a pre-registration agreement with Chelsea, but has now officially signed with the Wearsiders.

England youth international Bayley signed a pre-registration agreement from Southampton last January while Neill has joined Sunderland from Liverpool and has already represented the Black Cats’ under-16 and under-18 teams.

“We're really excited with all of them and happy to get all of them over the line,” Nicholls told the club’s YouTube channel. “We've got a good core of strength from the north-east, local players who know the area, who've done really well. It's a really strong area for finding players and local talent, so we're really happy with those

“And then we've added the three from further afield again, so our recruitment team have done a really good job in highlighting players across the season who might be able to add something to the group and be able to play in the way that we feel is important here at Sunderland. We've been able to add the three from further afield to an already strong group here, so we're really pleased with them.”

Nicholls also discussed loan opportunities for some of Sunderland’s under-21s team. Goalkeeper Matty Young could well head out on loan this season with fellow stoppers Adam Richardson and Dan Cameron potentially following suit at some point during the season.

Attacker Caden Kelly has also been linked with a loan move away from the Academy of Light at some point while Sunderland also boasts prospects like Tommy Watson and Harrison Jones, who may now need to experience senior football on a regular basis as they look to take the next steps in the careers.

“We have a lot of aims as an academy in terms of individuals,” Nicholls added. “So, we try and have a collective aim to impact the people, to impact the young people. That not only looks like minutes on the pitch and debuts and percentages that I've already talked about. 

“Those are some of our aims, but it goes deeper than that in actually trying to impact the individual journeys of the players. Can we give them enriching experiences to help them develop as people and as players? We have something around the landscape.

“How are we impacting the landscape of football? What kind of loans are we able to secure for the boys? And how are we going to impact international selections, as well as impacting the people? Those as boys and as people, when they move on and whatever their next step is, how can we set them to move forward? 

“In terms of goals, we have some broad ones around what we're trying to do in the PL2. And like I said, the percentage,” Sunderland’s academy manager concluded.