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 20-year-old Black Cats player Jack Diamond during the show.
Diamond is a Sunderland academy product. The attacker spent the majority of the 2019/20 season out on loan at Harrogate Town, who earned ‘promotion to the English Football League for the first time in their history‘ last season.
The 20-year-old made 30 appearances for Harrogate Town during the 2019/20 campaign, scoring four goals in all competitions for the club, as per Transfermarkt.
The Sunderland academy graduate has made just three appearances for the North East club’s senior squad thus far in his young career and during the most recent edition of The Roar Podcast, Copley talked about Diamond and shared some optimism about his chances of playing a greater role for the Black Cats’ first-team during the 2020/21 campaign.
The journalist said: “I remember watching him for the U23s in the Premier League 2 against Aston Villa. Sunderland lost, but he played very, very well, but he was very slight.
“Now he seems to have really bulked up and he seems to have matured, his decision-making seems to have improved, so you’re looking at him starting the season, possibly on the bench, coming on, making an impact.
“Can he break into the squad? League One, we’ve seen, it’s a good division for young players in which to do that.”
Will Diamond play an important role for Sunderland next season?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts…
Judging by his comments, it appears that Copley thinks that Diamond has become more ready to contribute to Sunderland’s first-team following his time away from the club and considering that a salary cap was recently introduced at League One level it may be good news for Black Cats fans that this journalist thinks that a player who is already on the club’s books could step up and add to the first-team squad for next season.
However, Diamond never made a League One appearance for the Black Cats before and it remains to be seen if the attacker has got the desired quality to make a big impact for the North East club.