Eliezer Mayenda scored in Sunderland’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth at the weekend

Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris has admitted that striker Eliezer Mayenda has had to endure a “tough season” at times, but praise the emerging talent for the impact that he made against Bournemouth at the weekend.

Mayenda scored his first goal since the opening weekend of the campaign in a 1-1 draw at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday lunchtime, having replaced the injured Brian Brobbey in Le Bris’ starting XI.

That start was just the 20-year-old’s seventh in the top flight this term, but speaking in a pre-match press conference ahead of Sunderland’s away clash against Leeds United on Tuesday evening, his head coach made it clear that he was impressed with Mayenda’s showing over the weekend, while also emphasising the significance of the role that he feels the attacker fulfils, even when he’s not in the first XI on a weekly basis.

What has Regis Le Bris said about Sunderland striker Eliezer Mayenda?

When asked how he would assess Mayenda’s campaign so far, Le Bris responded: “It's a tough season, as expected, because of the competition and the level in the Premier League. He's 20. He's really young. Sometimes we forget how young he is. It's always difficult because he started well with a feeling of trust and confidence, and it was the case. For a player, when you don't get the game time and you stay on the bench or you come on for a few minutes, you don't feel the same trust because it's always connected with whether you are in the starting XI or not, which is not [the case] for me.

“With another perspective, the only point to judge is if we trust him or not, but the player is a player. His game time was a bit lower after that, and he struggled to manage the situation, which I repeat is normal for a young player. But he went through positively, because if you watch his game against Bournemouth, his body language, his energy were positive. Even if he wasn't only connected with his goal, he was in the right position to score, which shows that he was connected, but it's not the only output of his game. He worked hard. He was able to hold the ball against strong physicality centre-backs. So, happy and pleased for him.”

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The Sunderland boss was also quizzed on where he feels Mayenda has improved most in recent months, to which he replied: “For me, he's a well-rounded forward, so it's a question of resilience. It's more about the mentality, the character, the personality, and the consistency of his behaviours through difficult experiences. I repeat, it's normal at this age to face for the first time and second time this challenge.”

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