Mark Donnelly, Phil Smith and James Copley discussed all things Sunderland on the latest edition of The Roar Podcast and the journalists spent some time talking about 21-year-old Black Cats midfielder Elliot Embleton during the show.
Embleton is a Sunderland academy graduate. He is a versatile midfielder who has played at central midfield, left midfield, right midfield, attacking midfield and defensive midfield during his career, as per Transfermarkt.
The player left the Stadium of Light to join Grimsby Town on loan during the 2018/19 season and he made 30 appearances for the Mariners that term, with 27 of those appearances coming in League Two.
The Sunderland midfielder was Grimsby’s second-highest assist provider in all competitions that season, while only three players scored more goals in all competitions for the Mariners than Embleton did during the 2018/19 campaign.
However, Embleton didn’t enjoy the best of luck with regard to injuries during the 2019/20 season upon returning to Sunderland following his positive loan spell and he ended up making just five appearances in all competitions for the Black Cats’ senior squad last season.
During this recent edition of The Roar Podcast, Copley talked about Embleton and shared some optimism about the midfielder’s talent.
The journalist said: “I remember being on this podcast at the start of last season and we were all very excited about Elliot Embleton and Jack Ross was about to give him a chance.
“He’s been unlucky with injuries, unfortunately, but he seems to be in and around Phil Parkinson’s first-team training squad, so you just hope and pray that he can kick on and stay injury-free. I think he’s got the talent to make an impact.
“One thing that Sunderland lack in the forward area is a little bit of youth. We’ve got plenty of skill and experience, but maybe some kind of youthful creativity would go a long way.”
Do you expect Embleton to play an important role for Sunderland next season?
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TIF Thoughts…
So, judging by his comments about the player, it appears that Copley has high hopes for Embleton and his chances of playing an important role for the Black Cats next season.
It may be fair to say that the midfielder performed well during his loan spell at Grimsby Town during the 2018/19 campaign and considering how much game time he missed due to injury last season, the player may be itching to show what he can do at League One level, so we believe that Embleton may be one to watch for Black Cats fans during the 2020/21 campaign.