Assessing the major Diamond and Hawkes dilemma for Cats
Whenever Lee Johnson has been asked about the January transfer window, he has pointed to one significant option he has at his disposal.
Having both been involved in the early stages of the season, loaning out Jack Diamond and Josh Hawkes were difficult calls for the footballing hierarchy.
Both were clearly capable of playing a part, but the arrival of Leon Dajaku meant that realistically, playing time was going to be squeezed.
Sunderland were faced with the choice of weakening their squad, or potentially hampering the development of two young players.
The loans so far have had the desired effect, with both players regulars for their League Two sides.
Hawkes has impressed Tranmere Rovers fans with his all-round play, and has a couple of goals under his belt to add to that fine finish against Port Vale in the Carabao Cup.
In Diamond’s case, dropping into League Two was perhaps a bit below where
Johnson feels his level is, but he was moving to a club he knew well and the added upside of a return to Harrogate Town was that is has allowed him to occasionally return for training, meaning he’s never really been too far from the setup.
“Jack is a young player who we are heavily invested in, in terms of development and his contract,” Johnson said at the start of this month.
“We wanted to give him the chance to keep developing, keep playing games, and if I couldn’t commit to 12/15 starts before January, it was better off he went somewhere to play, and that could potentially aid us in the second half of the season. Or, continues to develop at Harrogate Town.
“We’ll make the best decision for the long-term for both parties. He’s in a good team there and he’s really well valued there, which I think gives him that feeling of gravitas,” Johnson said.
“We’ve kept a close eye on him, we watch all his games.
“He’s bringing out all his top attributes which you would expect, a player playing probably slightly under his level in terms of the league.
“I think he could still play regularly in League One, but he wanted to go back to Harrogate. Location wise that worked for us as well, because we can keep an eye on him and get him back in, as we did last week.
“On a human level as well [bringing him back for training], it shows he’s still really involved with us and within that, we’ll sit down, look at his clips, work out the angles where he can continue his development and his improvement.”
Taking a key role in a side pushing for promotion also has an obvious value for his Sunderland future, and his attacking output has got better and better through recent weeks.
He now has six goals for the campaign, including a winner at Fratton Park in the FA Cup. There’s no doubt that both players could add something to the squad, but the question ahead of January is the same as it was in the summer.
Will there be enough game time to aid their long-term development? Clearly, a serious injury to Aiden McGeady has opened up one significant space in the squad.
McGeady was a regular through the early stages of the season, but knee ligament damage will likely keep him out until February and even then, it could take him a while to get up to full match fitness.
Already, though, Johnson’s currently settled XI means Sunderland tend only to play with one out-and-out winger.
Even if the currently lopsided 4-2-3-1 returns to a more orthodox one when Dennis Cirkin and Denver Hume return from injury, one of Elliot Embleton or Alex Pritchard will likely be in the side, as well as Nathan Broadhead who is excelling with Ross Stewart.
That leaves a returning loanee potentially fighting Lynden Gooch and Leon Da
jaku for one place, with Aiden O’Brien another possible challenger.
With that in mind, bringing back both players would seem likely to prove detrimental to at least one, particularly if Johnson were to strengthen his forward line further.
Given their respective levels of involvement in early season (though Hawkes was unfortunately hampered by a positive Covid-19 test), Diamond would seem to be the natural option if one were to return.
Given that there have been times when Johnson has really struggled for depth on his bench of late, Diamond’s pace and direct running could be a major asset, particularly if his end product is improving.
Though right now their form is excellent, Gooch and Dajaku have not always found real consistent this season and another option might be useful for Johnson in the real business end of the campaign.
Gooch’s recent groin injury also underlines how quickly an opportunity can present itself. The head coach says regularly that a young player needs 25 senior games across a season to maintain the pace of their development.
Interestingly, Diamond already has 23 to his name.
Arecallcouldyetserveboth parties, strengthening Johnson’s hand while not adversely affecting Diamond’s progress. But one thing is clear, this current regime will only bring back loanee if they are sure to be involved significantly.
Development is the key word at Sunderland now and they are willing to run a slightly smaller squad to aid that if necessary. Whatever they decide in January, the threeyear deal handed to Diamond earlier this year highlighted just how big a future they feel he has at the club.