Kristjaan Speakman, Sunderland’s sporting director, has assembled an exceptional roster of bright young players with the potential to improve and increase their market value.
The Black Cats have developed a plan that concentrates around improving and selling on prospects while being competitive on the pitch, and it has resulted in some success to date.
They made the play-offs in their debut season back in the Championship last season before selling Ross Stewart to Southampton in a move for up to £12 million this summer.
Despite selling the Scotland international, the Black Cats are presently fourth in the table after 11 games and look set for another play-off push.
Sunderland, on the other hand, have not always made the correct decisions or provided a sufficient pathway for young players coming through the ranks, and one gem who escaped their clutches is John Egan, who is now worth more than current star centre-back Daniel Ballard.
Where did John Egan begin his professional career?
The central defender began his junior career with Greenwood in his native Ireland before moving to the Stadium of Light in 2009, when he was 16 years old.He went on to make 30 U21 appearances for the Black Cats but never made a first-team appearance during his five-year stay on Wearside.
During his tenure at Sunderland, Egan was loaned out to Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, and Bradford City. However, in none of those loans did the Irish star play more than four competitive games.
His greatest season came in the second part of the 2013/14 season, when he was loaned out to Southend, where he made 15 appearances in League Two.
However, his first taste of regular first-team play was insufficient to persuade then-Black Cats boss Gus Poyet that he had the capacity to make an impact for his parent club in the future.
What did Sunderland get for Egan?
Sunderland did not collect any transfer fees for Egan because the manager allowed the central defender to leave at the conclusion of his contract in the summer of 2014.
This meant that the erstwhile Greenwood prospect left the Stadium of Light for nothing and moved on.
The former Black Cats youngster hit the ground running with his new club and immediately established himself as a regular fixture at the heart of their defence over the subsequent two seasons.
