How Sunderland's loanees are faring elsewhere this season - including Hemir, Rusyn, Aouchiche, and Ba

It’s all eyes on Regis Le Bris’ Sunderland dressing room at the present moment in time as the Black Cats continue their push for promotion this season.

But with a play-off place guaranteed on Wearside, there are also several Sunderland players who are pursuing ambitions of their own away from the club on a variety of loan agreements. With that in mind, here is a round-up of all the latest news from the Black Cats’ loanee contingent...

Adil Aouchiche

The French midfielder is currently out on loan at fellow Championship side Portsmouth, where he has scored one goal in 10 matches thus far. After sitting out a 2-1 defeat to Millwall over the weekend, Aouchiche returned to Pompey’s starting XI for Wednesday’s 1-0 loss against Coventry City.

Abdoullah Ba

Ba has struggled for game time since returning to his native France with USL Dunkerque. Nevertheless, he made an influential cameo against EA Guingamp on Monday evening, scoring one goal and assisting another in a 3-1 victory.

Nathan Bishop

The goalkeeper spent the first half of the season out on loan at Wycombe Wanderers, but sustained an injury which massively curtailed his momentum, and after having returned to Wearside, now finds himself with Cambridge United. So far, he has featured regularly in League One, but has played in just two victories since the beginning of February.

Timothee Pembele

A slow start at Le Havre has turned itself into something quite promising for Pembele. The full-back has started each of his new club’s last three matches, and even scored in a recent victory over FC Nantes.

Nectar Triantis

Arguably the biggest success story of Sunderland’s loanee contingent this season, the Australian has been transformed into a deep-lying midfielder, has earned himself a first senior international call-up, and has helped Hibernian to the brink of European qualification with three goals and five assists since late December. He is, in other words, flying.

Jay Matete

Matete has established himself as a regular for Bolton Wanderers this season, and will be hoping to maintain his stellar League One promotion record by helping his new side sneak their way into the play-offs.

Luis Hemir

Just two goals and an assist in 26 outings for Juventus’ Next Gen side over in Italy would seemingly suggest that Hemir is still struggling to realise his full potential.

Pierre Ekwah

Battling relegation with Saint-Etienne, Ekwah has nevertheless been a rare bright spark for the French club in the opinions of many this season. The midfielder has an option-to-buy clause folded into his agreement in Ligue 1, and if ASSE stay up, you presume that they will seriously consider exercising it.

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Nazariy Rusyn

Rusyn joined Croatian outfit Hajduk Split in January, but is struggling to find his rhythm somewhat. A relatively modest tally of 287 minutes have been split over eight outings so far, with just the three starts to his name, and at the time of writing, he has contributed one assist.

Ben Crompton

The U21s defender has become a real fan favourite during his time with non-league Tamworth, and enjoyed a moment in the spotlight when his new side faced Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup earlier this year.

Zak Johnson

Johnson headed out to Notts County in January, and since then he has made 10 League Two appearances - although just five of those have been starts, and he had not featured in a starting XI since early March.

Caden Kelly

And finally, Kelly has impressed during his time with Darlington in the National League North, bagging six goals and two assists across his 26 appearances so far.

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