With pre-season in full swing at the Academy of Light, Elliott Dickman has welcomed all nine of Sunderland’s new youth team players ahead of the 2016-17 campaign.
Jack Diamond, Jake Hackett, Anthony Patterson, Fergus McAughtrie and Jordan Hickey have stepped up from the under-16s squad while Jacob Young, Lee Connelly, Jack Connolly and Benjamin Mbunga-Kimpioka are new additions to the club.
The players will enrol on the first year of their scholarship programme, and will combine study with football as they form part of the under-18s team with the second-year scholars.
“In this initial week its more non-football things that they are doing so it’s all about getting them used to just being in and around the set-up,” Dickman revealed. “We need to make sure we look after the new lads because the second years are a bit more robust to the programme and the way we operate.
“It’s tough because they are going to be here from half eight in the morning until five at night. We won’t be pushing them too hard to start with but physically it will be different for them because they are going to be put through double training sessions and the intensity might be harder to what they are used to.”
He continued: “We are combining two different age groups to form the under-18s squad. There will be some competition in there which is good but the main thing from our point of view is that we get them communicating with each other and get them used to our methods.”
