Sunderland set to lose one of their brightest academy talents as Manchester United swoop

Sunderland are set to lose of the brightest talents in their academy set-up.
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16-year-old Logan Pye is understood to have held talks with Manchester United this week, who have a long-standing interest in the youngster.

Arsenal and Liverpool have also tracked his progress but it is the Old Trafford side who are closing in on a deal.

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Pye is a left-back by trade and has played most of his football this season in Paul Bryson’s U18 side.

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He has also been capped in the England U16 setup.

He will become the latest academy product to leave the club to join a top Premier League side before signing a professional contract with the Black Cats at the age of 17.

Since Sunderland were relegated to the third tier, they have seen talented forward Sam Greenwood join Arsenal, where he has since signed professional terms.

Luca Stephenson joined Liverpool, while young goalkeeper Luke Hewitson, among others, have also left the club.

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Speaking earlier this year to Roker Report, Paul Reid conceded that it was a major challenge.

“I was listening to a podcast with Les Ferdinand, someone who has been interviewed for the technical director role at the FA, so a figure really highly thought of,” he said.

“He was talking about his experiences at QPR and going through exactly the same thing, really struggling to keep hold of his young talent. Where he is, a lot of the big London clubs are looking at his young talent and trying to entice them to their football club.

“In terms of trying to keep our young players, we try and showcase our USP which is a real pathway to the first team.

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“That can be different at some of the bigger clubs, the players at our club are genuinely special to us, we care about them as people and players.

“We tried everything we could. You see the people who have left the football club, you don’t see the ones we have convinced to stay.

“There’s an awful lot of talented players at our academy, we have some real talent with clubs circling around them, and we’ve convinced them to stay.”