Ex-Sunderland academy prospect Elias Lenz opens up on 'educational' Black Cats stint
Former Sunderland midfielder Elias Lenz has been speaking about his time at the club.
When Elias Lenz arrived at Sunderland in the summer of 2024, he felt like yet another timely illustration of the refreshing approach to recruitment that the Black Cats had adopted to great effect under then-sporting director Kristjaan Speakman.
A product of RB Leipzig’s youth academy, the promising midfielder arrived on Wearside with a burgeoning reputation and a high ceiling of potential. Still a teenager at the time, Lenz was described as “fantastic” to work with by U21s boss Graeme Murty, and while there was an acceptance that first team opportunities were likely some way off, there was also a hope that his obvious pedigree could one day manifest as senior involvement.
Ultimately, however, that wasn’t meant to be. While the German was frequently involved with the U21s, a serious hamstring injury kept him sidelined for some 315 days, notably hindering his chances of continuing his personal development at the Academy of Light, and back in June, upon the confirmation of their retained list, Sunderland took the decision to release Lenz from the club.
As a consequence, the 20-year-old remains a free agent at the time of writing, but speaking to The Echo, courtesy of BylineCoverage.com, he has suggested that while it didn’t work out for him in the North East, his time in red and white was still an important step in his career.
He said: “If I had to describe my time at Sunderland with one word, I would use educational, because I learned a lot here from the players, from the coaches, and from the people around it. Everybody welcomed me on the first day and was friendly to me all the way through till the end in these two years, and everybody gave me the support I needed to become better. And in the time, I was able to play football, I think I improved a lot because of the people around me and the coaches as well, and I think I learned a lot from them.
“But also in my unfortunate injury time, I learned a lot about football - especially that it’s not always a straight development, that you sometimes have low times, and sometimes it's going really well. And in all this time, Sunderland supported me really well on the mental side and on the physical side, and I think I developed who I am as a person, but of course as a player as well. I learned a lot about what I can can do better in the future.
“Overall, even with my big hamstring injury, I will look back at my time in Sunderland and say this was a really helpful chapter in my career, and I will always look back with a smile, even though not everything went perfect with my injuries.”
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On the lessons he took from his stint with the Black Cats, Lenz continued: “I think the biggest thing I learned from Sunderland was to have a purpose in everything that you do. I think that's something everybody should know, but I learned to always have this mindset and actually do everything with a purpose and not just say it.
“Football-wise, I learned a lot about playing through the middle, playing forward, playing forward fast, playing fast in general, but playing always with a purpose, not just playing forward for the sake of playing forward, but actually with an idea. And all this I learned from really, really, good coaches who helped me in my time here. And what was really good here is the amount of detail they know and put into my first touch, in my movement against the ball and my defending one-on-one and in every other action on the pitch. So, they put a lot of detail in what exactly you need to do in every single action, so they don’t just tell you to take a better touch but exactly show you how, and I feel like I learned a lot there and got a lot more confidence from this. So overall, all the coaching stuff is brilliant.
“From the coaches to the physio team and the kitman, everybody is there for you. Big thanks to the physiotherapist, how they helped me a lot with my rehab, and I felt really secure with them doing my rehab and getting me back to 100% - and all this can be said for the facilities as well. There's everything you need. There's a brilliant gym. You can get go in the hot tub after training. You can go into the ice bath after training. The pitches are good. That's one of the main reasons I came to England, for the perfect English grass and the English pitches. So overall, I'm really happy with all the facilities and the excellent coaching staff.”
And while Lenz is still unsure as to where his career will take him next, he has hinted that a return to his home country could be on the cards - although he hasn’t ruled out a future in the English game either. Looking ahead, the young talent said: “So, for my next step in football, I will finish my rehab first, and then maybe look to go back to Germany. I am speaking to a couple of clubs at the moment but I definitely hope to play in England again at some point because I really enjoyed my time and the English football here.”