Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray outlines his plans for Jewison Bennette and where he'll fit in

Bennette featured in an internal behind-closed-doors game at the Academy of Light this week, alongside fellow new signings Abdoullah Ba and Amad Diallo. Edouard Michut did not feature after picking up a minor muscle injury.

Mowbray believes that Bennette and Ba are still a week or two away from being considered for regular football.

And in Ross Stewart's absence due a thigh injury, Mowbray has no doubt that in the interim he will at some stage have to switch formations to get the best out of his group.

That could open the door for Bennette to make his mark.

"He's so fast and direct, he picks it up and drives with it, his feet are so fast. He shifts it from left to right and there's no change, he shifts his shoulders and he's past people," Mowbray said.

"He doesn't know much about the Championship yet and that's why I'm taking him to matches, he has to watch it, see the physicality of the game and the demands on the players to run back as well as forward. In modern football you defend with everyone and attack with everyone. So these young players need time and then opportunities, which they'll get.

"Jewison is someone who looks to me as if he's going to play off the left side. Now at the moment we didn't have a winger in our system, yet Jack Clarke has shown what a wonderful job he can do in a wing-back role.

"We'll have to see how the team unfolds and we'll have to show flexibility. At some point we'll have to go to a back four. For four or five years at Blackburn Rovers I played with a 4-3-3 in different ways, sometimes without a nine. You need defenders who can play in a back four [to do that] as well.

"I've watched these lads for an hour in a bounce game, which isn't enough for me yet but I can see why they're in the building, they're talented and mobile.

"We have to integrate them into the team and at some stage we will."