Sunderland could strike gold with Huggins

Sunderland’s U21 aspect have been overwhelmed comfortably on Monday night time as they have been hammered 3-1 by Southampton in division two of Premier League 2.

Outcomes are largely irrelevant at youth degree by way of the event of the gamers as the general purpose is for them to make the breakthrough into the primary group, which they’ll do with out being a part of a profitable youth group.

One optimistic to remove from the loss to the Saints was that 21-year-old right-back Niall Huggins began the match and performed the complete 90 minutes – his third look for the U21s in 2022 after recovering from a fractured again.

His final aggressive outing for Sunderland got here in a 5-0 win over Cheltenham in September 2021 and he has now returned to first-team coaching after simply over a 12 months away from the senior group.

Huggins performed three video games for the U21s as a part of his rehabilitation and he’s now closing in on having the ability to make a return for Tony Mowbray’s group, with the teen now having fun with his first probability to impress the supervisor as Lee Johnson was in cost when he was final obtainable for choice.

Is Huggins a future star for Sunderland?

Mowbray might now strike gold by unearthing the starlet’s full potential as he confirmed nice promise previous to his damage nightmare over the previous 12 months.

Certainly ex-Black Cats boss Johnson hailed the teen’s skills after bringing him in from Leeds United final 12 months, saying:

“Niall is an fascinating participant and tactically he’s very versatile – he’s additionally superb bodily by way of his pace and acceleration and he’s a great dribbler, whether or not that’s taking part in left again or proper again.

“He’s a shiny child and he’s had an excellent schooling at Leeds, however now it’s the precise time for him to step into that first-team surroundings. Niall is one other one which we’ve added to our steady of high quality younger gamers, so we’re very pleased to have him and we’re trying ahead to working with him.”

The £3.9k-per-week warrior, who was dubbed a “stunning” signing by journalist Josh Bunting, provided a style of what he’s able to in a 2-0 win over Wigan within the EFL Cup final season. He recorded a SofaScore ranking of seven.3 as he received five of his six particular person duels and created two probabilities, registering one help, within the match as he showcased his aggressive nature and his potential on the ball.

Huggins, who’s an international for Wales at youth degree, was a daily for Leeds’ U21s previous to his transfer to the Stadium of Gentle as he performed 17 Premier League 2 matches, scoring twice, within the 2020/21 marketing campaign.

His performances for the Whites have been adequate to persuade Kristjaan Speakman and Johnson to signal him and the gem’s show in opposition to Wigan may very well be an indication of what’s to come back from him underneath Mowbray now that he has recovered from his damage.

Subsequently, the Black Cats boss might strike gold by giving Huggins, who has loads of time left to develop on the age of 21, alternatives to impress within the Championship, serving to the teen fulfil his undoubted potential and grow to be a beneficial member of the first-team squad.