Sunderland starlet Joseph Cowan has been highlighted in the national press
Sunderland have a fine recent history of producing massive talent from their academy system.
From the likes of Champions League winner Jordan Henderson, all the way through to Championship play-off final hero Tommy Watson, and current first team squad stalwarts Dan Neil, Chris Rigg, and Anthony Patterson, the Black Cats are not exactly short of local lads done good.
At the present moment in time, however, perhaps none shine as brightly, or remain as eternally popular on Wearside, as Jordan Pickford. The 31-year-old is a lifelong Mackem, a 79-cap England international, and, in recent seasons, has quite often been the difference between Everton staying in the Premier League or suffering a historic relegation.
Pickford’s legacy is, therefore, a sizeable one, and it can be recognised in the slew of top tier stoppers that Sunderland have produced since - and may well produce further down the line. Patterson, of course, is the most obvious example, but behind him, Matty Young continues to impress on loan at Salford City and on international duty with England’s youth sides, while even fresher still, there is young Joseph Cowan.
Born in September 2008, Cowan has already trained with Regis Le Bris’ first team on Wearside, and while he has been plugging away in the U18s, there is a growing feeling that he could be ready to make the step up to U21 level sooner rather than later. And the teenager’s rapid development has been reflected in his inclusion on The Guardian’s Next Generation 2025 - a list of 20 of the best talents currently rising through the ranks at Premier League clubs.
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What has been said about Sunderland starlet Joseph Cowan?
Assessing Cowan’s progress, reporter Louise Taylor writes: “Goalkeepers generally mature later, sometimes quite a lot later, than outfield players but Cowan proves a key exception to this rule. As a 15-year-old schoolboy he played Under-18 football for Sunderland and, last season, he trained with Regis Le Bris’s first team squad.
“Having left school this summer, a keeper known for his razor-sharp reflexes, excellent shot-stopping and command of the area, he seems capable of graduating to the Under-21s at some stage this term. Cowan began goalkeeping at Teesside’s renowned Premier Player Football Academy at the age of seven. Eighteen months later he joined Sunderland’s academy and has rarely looked back since, acquiring a host of admirers at rival clubs along the way.”
While the article stops short of naming Cowan’s gathering suitors, it is easy to see why he would be garnering attention, and how he may ultimately come to be one of the next breakout stars to emerge from the Black Cats’ glittering production line.
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