SUNDERLAND have agreed deals to bring in two youngsters from Manchester City.The Black Cats have finalised scholarship terms with goalkeeper Cameron McCulloch and striker Josh Maja to join the club’s Under-18 set-up in the summer after both enjoyed successful trials with the Black Cats. City had already decided to release the pair at the end of this season, but after Sunderland took a closer look at them, they were sufficiently impressed to bring them to the Academy of Light. Goalkeeper McCulloch, 16, had caught Sunderland’s eye while playing against them for City and represented the Black Cats Under-17s at the Future Champions Cup, in South Africa, last month. Striker Maja, who has been turning out on trial for Sunderland’s U16s side, had been formally registered with Fulham, even though he has been playing for City. But when City decided not to offer the England U16 international a scholarship, Sunderland approached Fulham and reached an agreement for his move. Meanwhile, Sunderland are also expected to bring in new recruits from Scandinavia for next season. New assistant academy manager Danny Philpott has been focusing on talent from Norway and Sweden since arriving at Sunderland last November. Philpott has been working alongside academy boss Ged McNamee, with a view to improving Sunderland’s recruitment of young talent.
It's the way to go. And I hope they're keeping a close eye on our various partnerships in Africa - one young Gyan or Mensah would save us a lot of scraping about for money in future.
