Graeme Murty insists Sunderland’s Premier League return will not change the club’s academy vision or philosophy
Sunderland under-21s lead coach Graeme Murty has made it clear that the club’s academy pathway will remain unchanged despite the step up to Premier League football, stressing that the goal has always been to produce players capable of performing at the very highest level.
In recent seasons, Sunderland’s academy has developed an exciting wave of young talent, including Chris Rigg, Dan Neil, Anthony Patterson, Zak Johnson, Tommy Watson, Harrison Jones, and Trey Ogunsuyi, while previous graduates like Jordan Henderson and Jordan Pickford have gone on to become England internationals.
Murty believes the Premier League raises standards but insists the philosophy behind Sunderland’s player development will not shift. “It doesn’t change, it doesn’t change,” Murty said when asked whether Sunderland’s return to the Premier League would alter the academy’s approach.
“I think we’ve talked about this before. We’ve never been in the business of creating, with all the very due respect, we’ve never been in the business of creating for League Two, for the National League, for League One, for the Championship, even. Our aspiration as an academy has to be to create players of such high quality that they can be international players.”
Murty also pointed to recent examples of academy players breaking into youth international setups as proof that Sunderland’s model is working. “Trey (Ogunsuyi) in Belgian under-19s, Timur Tuturov has been called up for Ukraine’s under-21s, so we want to be at that standard,” he explained.
Murty continued: “We have the challenge as technical staff to be at that standard and, if anything, showing what Premier League players look like on a daily basis is a fantastic learning tool for our players to understand the level has shifted.”
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According to Murty, the demands on young players are now higher than ever, but Sunderland’s academy is fully focused on preparing prospects to thrive at the very top with the club now back in the Premier League following an eight-year absence.
“If you’d have come to this club four or five years ago, you’re required to be X, you’re not required to be that animal, you’re required to be so much more than that,” he said. “So what we want to do is make sure they understand that it’s not insurmountable, but they also have to understand the level of sacrifice and dedication that it takes to go and climb that mountain.”
Sunderland under-21s are back in action in the Premier League 2 against West Ham United at Eppleton CW on Friday evening.
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