Let’s be honest, lads and lasses: being a Sunderland fan means your eyes are glued to more than just the first team sheet on a Saturday afternoon.
With the club’s focus on cultivating top-tier young talent at the Academy of Light, keeping tabs on our rising stars and squad players out on loan has become a full-time job.
Whether they’re grinding out gritty, character-building performances in non-league, getting precious minutes in the Championship, or testing themselves abroad, their development is
the blueprint for our future success.
That’s why we’re launching Loan Watch, your brand new, definitive weekly breakdown of how our on-loan Black Cats are faring away from Wearside.
What to expect…
Every week, we’ll be doing the heavy lifting so you don’t have to track obscure Twitter accounts or scroll through lower-league stat apps late at night or over your morning coffee.
Here’s what we’ll give you:
- The hard facts: Minutes played, goals, assists, clean sheets and all the other underlying metrics
- Local lowdown: What are the local press, opposition managers and fans actually saying about our players? Are they a vital cog in the wheel or are they finding life tough on the road?
- The Wearside Projection: An honest assessment of what their current form means for their long-term future under Régis Le Bris. Are they playing their way into a first team shirt for next season?
From our highly-rated academy prospects looking to make their mark to senior lads getting sharp, no loanee will be left off the radar.
In profile: Milan Aleksić
This weekend, Aleksić made his long-awaited debut for Serbian top-flight club Partizan Belgrade, where he spent many years in his youth.
Partizan opened their Serbian SuperLiga season with a 2-2 draw away to newly-promoted FK Zemun.
The hard facts
Aleksić recorded just under an hour of game time (58 minutes) on his debut and return to the Serbian SuperLiga, during the game he put Partizan in the lead with his nineteenth-minute debut goal.
Aleksić also completed 15/17 passes (88%), attempted 3 shots on goal and created two further chances for Partizan before he was replaced by Bogdan Kostić in the fifty eighth minute, and he received a 7.2 match rating on FotMob.
Local lowdown
The official Serbian SuperLiga broadcaster, TV Arena Sport, had the following comments following his performance (loosely translated):
Milan Aleksić scored his debut goal for the Black and Whites and brought the lead to Partizan!
Demba Seck pulled the action wide and found Milan Roganović, whose return ball picked out Aleksić. He was completely precise and immediately ran to celebrate with the Grobari (Partizan’s hardcore fans)!
The first goal for Partizan in the new Superliga season.
Partizan’s official account also tweeted on Sunday afternoon, suggesting that his return is the “right move”.
Milan Aleksić scored a goal on his debut for the Partizan first team, confirming that returning to the black-and-white camp was the right move!
The Wearside Projection
It’s far too early to tell what this means for his long-term future with the Black Cats, but early signs point to him showing the form that led Kristjaan Speakman to spend a reported €3 million to bring Aleksić to Wearside in the first place.
However, with his loan deal including a £1 million optional buy clause, his performances suggest he may be playing himself into the shop window rather than Régis Le Bris’ first team plans.
