The Sunderland attacker is not thought to be part of Régis Le Bris’ plan and could move on loan this summer

Sunderland under-21s boss Graeme Murty has hinted Jewison Bennette could well end up going out on loan before the transfer deadline passes.

The Costa Rica international is fully fit but hasn’t made first-team head coach Régis Le Bris’ squad for either of Sunderland’s three Championship games so far. Bennette did feature against Preston North End in the Carabao Cup but does not appear to be a part of the Frenchman’s senior plans as things stand.

The 20-year-old started the under-21s Wear-Tees match between Sunderland and Middlesbrough in the Premier League 2 at Eppleton CW on Monday night and netted two goals for Murty’s side as the Black Cats won 3-2 on the night.

“I hope Jewi does what he needs to do because I've got a really, really good relationship with him,” Murty said when asked about Bennette’s transfer future. “I think, as you see, it's really positive and he's a really great person to be around.

“But football's really, really, really quite fickle. So we need to understand individual players need different things. They have a different journey. So our challenge all the way through our programme, all the way into the first team, is to make sure we support that individual journey as well as we possibly can.

“We think that our support levels from under eight all the way to our first team really, really emphasises that individual nature because not one size fits all. It doesn't work that way. Football doesn't work that way. And we need to make sure that along those challenging times or along those good times, our level of support remains key.”

Bennette has been linked with a move to Reading in League One on loan before the transfer deadline passes on Friday evening, though his inclusion against Middlesbrough would suggest that nothing was close, the caveat to that being that the picture can shift quickly.

The attacker played against Newcastle United’s under-21s last week and started alongside first-team players Dan Ballard and Ian Poveda with the pair aiming to build fitness ahead of their return to Le Bris’ first team with the seniors set to face Portsmouth at Fratton Park in the league this weekend.

“The first-team players are great in terms of showing the players the level,” Murty added after the win against Middlesbrough. Our players are in a group where we're a really willing vehicle for first-team players to get minutes, like Dan (Ballard) or Jewi or Ian (Poveda) as he's recovering back.

“But also, it's a real good opportunity for the players to show the manager how good they are, to work on their own game and do some benediction. Last week, we challenged him (Bennette) to get in scoring areas more often and he's taken it literally this week and he scored two from six yards out. And last week against Newcastle, he never got there.

“So he's still learning. He's still improving. He's still wanting to actually get better. So we provide an excellent opportunity to forge that link with the first team for our young players, but also for our first team players to really enhance our young players' learning environment.”