Sunderland striker Trey Ogunsuyi drops transfer hint after Spurs hat-trick, eyeing more men's football this season...
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Sunderland forward Trey Ogunsuyi has hinted that a loan move could be on the cards after scoring a stunning hat-trick during the club’s 5-3 Premier League 2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Monday night.
The 18-year-old striker, who recently signed a new long-term contract at the Stadium of Light until 2028, delivered another electrifying display at Eppleton but admitted that his next step needs to involve playing regular men’s football.
“Yeah, I’m very happy. That’s my goal as a striker, to score every game. I’m happy to do that,” Ogunsuyi said after the game. “We go into the game trying to win, get three points. We showed spirit to come back into the game, but it wasn’t our night, and we go again next week.”
Pressed on his ambitions for the season ahead, Ogunsuyi was clear about where he sees his development heading: “Yeah, this season is going to be a big season for me, obviously,” he said. “My goal is to play more men’s football, so I’m going to try and do that. Next for me is to play men’s football, like I said, and to try and break into the first team.”
Ogunsuyi may well be handed a chance at some point during the Carabao Cup clash against Huddersfield Town at the Stadium of Light in a couple of weeks. However, if Ogunsuyi is to be granted his wish of playing senior men’s football, he may have to head out on loan in January, or even before the summer window shuts.
After the game, Sunderland U21s lead coach Graeme Murty delivered his verdict on Ogunsuyi’s short-term future, suggesting that a loan move could be on the table as the club maps out the striker’s next step. Ogunsuyi has already made his senior debut under Régis Le Bris, coming off the bench in the FA Cup against Stoke City last season, and also featured during pre-season with the first team.
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Murty admitted that Sunderland have plenty of interest in the powerful forward but stressed that the club will take a measured approach when deciding what comes next for his development. “What we tend to do, we’ll sit together as a staff, we’ll sit with the first team, and we’ll look at each player’s individual journey,” Murty explained.
“And we make sure that we support that in what way we think is best to increase their learning at that particular time, particularly in the areas that we perceive that he needs. If we perceive that staying here and playing against that level of opponent every week is the thing that he needs, then he might do that alongside the training with the first team.
“If we think he’d be better served by playing against men and being challenged in a different department, then we’ll go and facilitate that because we have no shortage of suitors for the players, we have no shortage of support that we can give to the players and we just have to determine what the journey is going to look like for him. But like I said, he’s our player for now, for two years in the future, five years in the future, we’ve still got to work towards what he might become rather than what he’s looking like right now.”