The Whites loanee swapped Elland Road for the Stadium of Light this summer and the Black Cats could draft him in for the cup game next week.
Sunderland manager Jack Ross has given his initial verdict on Leeds United loanee Laurens De Bock, who is likely to make his senior debut for the Black Cats in next week’s Carabao Cup clash with Sheffield United (Sunderland Echo).
The Whites full-back, plus fellow deadline day new arrival Joel Lynch, made their first Black Cats appearances on Monday when they turned out the Under-23s against Middlesbrough, the Whites man earning positive feedback by the Sunderland Echo (“his quality was clear”).
Ross was impressed with De Bock’s performance against the Teessiders, saying “it was clear to see” how much the Elland Road man enjoys defending and praising his “aggressive” style of play at the back, but also suggesting he has the right tools to also do a job further up the pitch.
“With Laurens, we just plan on him doing his work with us and then hopefully it can be geared towards him being involved against Sheffield United,” Ross is quoted by the Sunderland Echo as saying. “It was clear to see when he came in very quickly that he does enjoy defending.
“He’s aggressive, he enjoys that side of the game. We saw that in the U23s game. The way we play, there will be an onus on him to get forward but it’s a very good starting point to have those defensive attributes to begin with. He does have a good left foot and that will help him when he does get higher up the pitch.”
De Bock left Elland Road on transfer deadline day this summer to link up with the Black Cats on loan, having only made only seven appearances for Leeds since joining in January 2018 from Club Brugge, for whom he played more than 100 times and featured in Europe (BBC Sport).
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