Sunderland AFC plan outlined for yet-to-debut Deadline Day signing
Sunderland’s under-21s manager Graeme Murty has revealed the club’s plans for deadline day signing Milan Aleksic.
The main focus of their deadline day activity was on getting another centre-forward, which they did when they confirmed the arrival of Ahmed Abdullahi in the early hours of the following morning.
But, alongside the young Nigerian attacker and AFC Bournemouth defender Chris Mepham, Sunderland also acquired two more youthful talents: Aleksic and Salis Abdul Samed.
Aleksic, 19, cost Sunderland somewhere in the region of €4 million, according to reports from Serbia, as referenced by the Sunderland Echo, while Abdul Samed joined on loan from French side RC Lens.
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As is the case with a fair number of the players that the Black Cats bring in, they aren’t necessarily ones that are signed with the thought that they will make an instant impact on the first-team.
Serbian midfielder Aleksic has been on the bench for Sunderland’s last two Championship games, away at Plymouth Argyle and at home to Middlesbrough, but he is yet to make his first-team debut.
The same can be said for Abdullahi and Abdul Samed, who haven’t appeared in any of Regis Le Bris’ first-team squads since signing for the club.
But, despite his pair of bench appearances, the club are planning on easing Aleksic into life at the Stadium of Light rather than throwing him in the deep end.
Sunderland’s plan for Milan Aleksic outlined by Graeme Murty
After the 19-year-old appeared against Everton’s under-21s in the Premier League 2, Murty stated that he wants to see Aleksic progress on to playing with the first-team at some point.
“We want to see more of him,” said the under-21s boss on the teenager, as per the Echo.
“We want to give him a platform to go on and play, along with all the first-team players. We keep on saying that we are a willing vehicle for those guys to get in the minutes to get an understanding, to get match fit, to get sharper.
“And we also want to make sure that our young players get the opportunity to play alongside them and show how well they can do.”
Upon signing, Aleksic was described by the Black Cats’ sporting director, Kristjaan Speakman, when he completed his move to the northeast as: “an incredibly talented young player, who is on the fringe of national team selection.”
Despite his figurative vicinity to becoming a capped Serbian player, Sunderland have been acclimating the midfielder to his new environment.
He doesn’t speak much English and he doesn’t know his new area very well, and this was an issue they dealt with when they signed Ukranian forward Nazariy Rusyn last summer too.
Sunderland are in a good position to be patient with new signings
The way that Le Bris has got this side to hit the ground running has been key to setting up many things. Firstly, in terms of the league, their five wins out six to start the new campaign has given them a brilliant base and confidence to work off of going forward.
