Sunderland academy chief Ged McNamee says they're keen to ultilise the loan system to boost their players' development.

McNamee encourages Sunderland's younger players to use the loan market to propel themselves into the manager's thinking.

"It's hard for them. As long as there's a pathway and the boys feel there's a pathway that's the main thing," he told The Journal.

"As long as the senior staff have been exposed to them and can make a judgement on them (it's fair). Sometimes it's a case of them going away to come back - Jordan Henderson and Jack Colback have utilised the loan system, used the experience and come back and (then) broke into the first team.

"But it is a small percentage who will join the system at eight years old and go straight into the first XI. It's quite remarkable that we've had so many lads who've done that."