Sunderland manager Lee Johnson says he wants to keep on-loan Wolves defender Dion Sanderson at the club for the rest of the season, but admits the Premier League club are frustrated about the youngster's lack of game time.
Sanderson joined Sunderland on a season-long loan back on the final day of the summer transfer window, but has since found first-team opportunities somewhat hard to come by.
The versatile defender has featured in just six league games for the Black Cats so far this season, although he has made appearances in each of Sunderland's last three outings, and it seems Johnson is confident of retaining the services of the defender until the end of the campaign.
Discussing the situation surrounding Sanderson's future at the Stadium of Light, Johnson was quoted by The Sunderland Echo as saying: "I'd like to keep him, first and foremost. I had a discussion with Wolves about that quite early [in my tenure] and I think they were understandably a little bit frustrated with his gametime.
"But I think we've proved that it is there for him and with as many games as we have coming up, he's a player I like, he's a good lad, trains well and has some real quality.
"He's got to stay switched on, and make sure he's a warrior as well as an artist. We want the artist second but he's shown he can do that. He's shown quality in games and in training sessions."
Prior to his move to Sunderland, Sanderson had made one first-team appearance for Wolves, and spent the second-half of last season on loan in the Championship with Cardiff, impressing in his ten appearances for the Bluebirds.
The Verdict
I do think that it makes sense for Sunderland to look to keep Sanderson at The Stadium of Light for the second half of this season.
Given the ability he showed with Cardiff last year, this did feel like an impressive signing for Sunderland, meaning the fact he has not been playing regularly is a surprise.
However, it does seem as though Sanderson is now starting to force his way into the first-team more regularly under Johnson, and the signs do seem to be promising from every perspective.
As a result, you do feel as though Wolves should be a bit more comfortable now about letting Sanderson stay with Sunderland for the rest of the campaign, something which ought to be a boost for the Black Cats.
