Matty Young has explained what his plans are ahead of his return to Sunderland.
Matty Young joined the Academy of Light at seven years old and has risen through the ranks since.
The goalkeeper made his first-team debut in Sunderland’s pre-season clash with New Mexico United last summer, before receiving his first call-up to England U19s back in November.
Young went onto join National League club Darlington on loan in February and has since gone from strength to strength.
The 17-year-old made 14 starts for The Quakers, picking up five clean sheets and helping them avoid relegation, before being named their Young Player of the Year.
Young is very highly-rated on Wearside and has been tipped to make an impact on the senior squad in the future, while Mike Dodds has suggested he could even be in contention for a place in the team next season.
Matty Young is ready to get ‘grafting’
With Young’s time at Darlington coming to an end this month, he has now spoken out about what happens next.
Speaking to the club, Young said: “Going into men’s football for the first time, the first game was quite a shock for me.
“I had to adapt the pace and what the physicality is like is very different to U23s football. I feel like I’ve done well. For me, it’s now just about getting back in the environment at Sunderland. With it being part time I’ve still been there since I’ve been in on loan, and for now it’s a case of getting my head down and grafting.
“My time here for the last two months has been absolutely superb, all the lads to turn it round from where we were when I came to now has been excellent. I can’t fault the lads, Steve [Watson] and Terry [Mitchell] as well have been superb. We’ve stayed up, which is the most important thing.”
Is he ready to make the Sunderland senior squad?
It does feel like Matty Young is still too young to become Sunderland‘s first-choice goalkeeper, but he will be turning 18 in November, and wouldn’t be the only teenager in the squad.
Young’s position in the team is likely to depend on whether Anthony Patterson moves to the Premier League this summer though, while it would still be very surprising if the club didn’t choose to invest in a new goalkeeper too.
It would be great to see Young given a chance to be in and around the senior team, but it would probably be a good idea to send him back out on loan if he wasn’t going to be playing regularly.