Will on way to loan spell with Barrow

YOUNG Sunderland striker Will Harris has joined Barrow on loan for the remainder of the season.

The 21-year-old has linked up with Mark Cooper’s League Two outfit and could make his debut in Saturday’s FA Cup third round tie against Championship side Barnsley at Oakwell.

Ex-Burnley man Harris has scored 10 goals in nine games for the Black Cats’ U23 side in Premier League 2 this season, and that form saw him drafted into Lee Johnson’s first team plans as Sunderland struggled with a lengthy injury list.

South Shields-born Harris has made six first-team appearances for Sunderland, with his debut coming in the EFL Trophy win at Lincoln City in early October.

He has gone on to play in three further Trophy ties, and made the first of his three league appearances - all of which have come as a substitute - in the 2-1 win at Gillingham, also in October.

Most recently he came off the bench in Sunderland’s 3-0 league win at Doncaster at the end of December.

Sunderland have already allowed three youngsters out on loan, with Jack Diamond and Josh Hawkes both in League Two at Harrogate Town and Tranmere Rovers respectively, while goalkeeper Anthony Patterson is at National League Notts County.

Johnson said this week that he was preparing to allow more emerging talent to go out on loan to gain experience of regular first-team football, and Harris’ move is the first step in that direction.

“We may well look to get a couple of players out [on loan] to give them gametime, so keep your eyes open for those,” Johnson said yesterday.

“Players who have been around and about the first team squad.

“There has been a lot of interest, actually, and of course we can’t let everybody out because we’ve got a number of fixtures to fulfil, but some of these guys need a game.

“We always look to get players 25 games over a season if possible, and that’s for a number of reasons - the individual, for the club in order to maintain a value, and to maintain a player’s potential coming back into the first team.

“Getting your loan system right is a really key part of a progression at a football club, and getting young players good loans.”