With four tiers of professional football in England, clubs in the Premier League often look towards the EFL to help their players develop.

That was the case this summer when Everton decided to loan attacker Ellis Simms to Championship outfit Sunderland ahead of their return to the second tier.

Having previously been at Blackpool on loan in their promotion winning League One season in 2020/21, and out in the Scottish Premier League with Hearts last term, it was decided by the Toffees that a move to the Black Cats was the best move for the 21-year-old.

With that in mind, here at FLW, we thought we'd take a quick glance at how Simms has got on at the Stadium of Light during the opening two months of the season.

How's he getting on?

It was certainly a quick start to life at the Stadium of Light for Ellis, scoring two goals in his league debut against Coventry City in early August.

The 21-year-old then followed this up with with a goal in the Black Cats' next match v QPR, too.

His tally has not been added to since then, though, having featured a further six times for the club.

In even more unfortunate news, the 21-year-old has missed the club's last four matches with a toe injury.

Boss Tony Mowbray recently confirmed that he is likely to remain sidelined for at least the next few weeks, too, so it seems there is a real possibility that we don't see the 21-year-old back in full action until after the World Cup break, with that set to kick in in just over a month.

When he does return, though, no doubt he will continue to prove a hit in the North East, continuing to strike up a brilliant understand with teammate Ross Stewart up front.