Sunderland now rank tenth in world football for one interesting thing – though probably not something that fans will like.
Sunderland‘s youthful squad received endless praise last season as they reached the Championship play-offs at the first time of asking.
The likes of Jack Clarke, Amad Diallo and Dan Neil shone in the second tier and pulled off some eye-catching goals such as the beauty against Reading in September 2022.
However, the team didn’t quite pick up where they left off this season.
Sunderland offloaded the likes of Ross Stewart, Lynden Gooch, Alex Pritchard and Danny Batth, while Corry Evans remained sidelined and is still yet to return to first team action.
The Black Cats have now suffered 19 defeats in the Championship – less than only Birmingham, Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United.
The Wearside outfit have just been hammered 5-1 by Blackburn and look far from the lively, confident team that dominated many others last term.
Sunderland’s youngsters rank 10th in the world
Sunderland’s squad is packed with inexperienced youngsters who have barely tasted senior football, so it comes as no surprise that they have given some of the most minutes to U23s players in the whole world.
As per CIES Football, Sunderland have ranked 10th in a list of clubs to give the most minutes to players under the age of 23 in world football, with 60% of their minutes played this season coming from players 22 or younger.
Here is the current top 10…
- MSK Zilina – 74.9% (Slovakia)
- Villarreal – 72.4% (Spain)
- RB Salzburg – 68.1% (Austria)
- FK Vozdovac 66.2% (Serbia)
- Rukh Lviv – 65.5% (Ukraine)
- FC Nordsjaelland – 65.1% (Denmark)
- Ajax – 62.4% (Netherlands)
- Fortaleza CEIF – 62.1% (Colombia)
- CD Mirandes – 61.4% (Spain)
- Sunderland – 59.7% (England)
Is this a good or a bad thing?
Giving young players opportunities in the first team would previously have been something we would celebrate, especially after such a successful 2022/23 campaign.
However, our lack of experience and leaders in the squad has really punished us this time round.
The youth in our squad was only ever a positive thing when we had the likes of Pritchard and Batth to balance them out, but now the likes of Dan Neil is forced to become the senior figure despite only being 22 years old.
Coincidentally, Villarreal and Ajax are two teams that have also struggled in their respective leagues this term, having given even more minutes to youngsters than Sunderland.
If the Black Cats can bring in some experienced players again this summer then perhaps we can get back to the way we were last season, but we can’t continue to rely on those that have barely even stepped foot on a pitch in senior football.