Andy Welsh has revealed he is keen to build on the successes of Sunderland’s development team last season.
While academy graduates Duncan Watmore and Jordan Pickford became prominent members of the first-team, fellow youngsters Lynden Gooch, Tommy Robson, George Honeyman and Rees Greenwood also broke through into the set-up last term.
With a rich vein of talent coming through the Academy of Light’s youth system as well as success on the pitch, as the under-21s finished second in the U21 Premier League last term, Welsh has now challenged this year’s development team to emulate last season’s fine achievements.
“We want to win football matches because I am a firm believer that at under-21 level, winning football matches is important,” he said. “As you come through the system, fewer get there, so it becomes incredibly difficult.
“We’re hoping to obviously encourage this individual development and hopefully push one or two this year through into the first team, just like we did last year.”
He continued: “The expectations are there, win football matches and have a good season, but our be all and end all is to make sure we can get players through for the manager into the first team.
“Last year we did that very well, and we are hoping again this year to be doing the same type of thing.”
