During the summer of 2020, Manchester City, Everton and Liverpool sent three of their most exciting young talents – Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Jarrad Branthwaite and Harvey Elliott – on loan to Blackburn Rovers.
The year after, Reda Khadra and Jean-Paul van Hecke arrived from Brighton. Ian Carlo Poveda from Leeds. Leighton Clarkson from Liverpool, and Ryan Giles from Wolves.
Joe Gelhardt, meanwhile, had offers from almost 50 per cent of the Championship before opting to join Sunderland; a club where Jack Clarke, Ellis Simms Aji Alese, Dan Ballard and most notably Amad Diallo had come on leaps and bounds over the previous months.
And if you were wondering what Blackburn and Sunderland had in common, it’s simple really; Tony Mowbray.
And while the now Black Cats boss has played down his reputation as an elite developer of young talent, it is no coincidence that so many top-flight clubs have opted to enrol their best and brightest up-and-comers in Mowbray’s feted finishing school.
“Perhaps the head of football operations or the sporting director look at it and think; ‘(My sides) have got a good history of working with young players, making them better and sending them back almost ready (for first-team football in the top-flight)’,” the former Middlesbrough captain told The Athletic in February 2021.
“I just know that we try to create a culture of attacking, of doing the right things. All of those basics that the top footballers do naturally, we try and encourage every day. Good habits.”
Sunderland like Cliftonville starlet Sean Moore
All of this is a rather long-winded preamble to our central point. With the Belfast Telegraph reporting that Sunderland are one of a number of clubs ‘very keen’ on Cliftonville starlet Sean Moore, there is maybe no better destination for arguably Ireland’s most exciting teenage talent to continue his education.
West Ham have made two bids. Sunderland’s North East neighbours Newcastle are interested too. At just 17, Moore would likely have to be content with reserve team football at West Ham or Newcastle. At least, initially.
But, while the now Republic of Ireland U19 international would not simply stroll straight into Mowbray’s XI at the Stadium of Light, it should not go unnoticed by Moore’s camp that Sunderland have handed out over 20,000 minutes of Championship football this season alone to players aged 22 or under.
Mowbray’s attack-minded approach, meanwhile, also goes hand in hand with a fleet-footed winger who has six goals and three assists already during his breakthrough season in senior football.
‘His ability is exceptional’
“He is a special talent,” Cliftonville coach Paddy McLaughlin says of Moore; his left-footedness and jinking stride leading to (perhaps unhelpful) comparisons with one Lionel Messi.
Perhaps a more pertinent comparison is with Amad Diallo; another left-footed right winger who loves to cut inside.
“He’s going to be a star,” McLaughlin adds. “And it’s there for all to see.
“Anybody who’s been watching our games can see that his ability is exceptional. And that’s why he’s been getting so much attention off the pitch.”
Football is littered with the rotting corpses of decaying careers. An unholy number young players counting the cost of making the wrong move at the wrong time. If Moore wants to avoid the same fate, then the decision he makes this summer is one that could define the rest of – or at least the next few years of – his career.
No pressure, then.
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