Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris has warned free scoring forward Trey Ogunsuyi he will be best served by remaining in the North East amid interest from Liverpool.
The Reds have been unafraid to target young talent of high potential and in recent times. The club's academy have landed Trey Nyoni from Leicester, Amara Nallo from West Ham, and Rio Ngumoha from Chelsea earlier this year.
Ogunsuyi, 17, has started to forge an impressive reputation with the Black Cats having scored 15 goals in 17 appearances across their youth teams. Those figures include three goals in two games against Liverpool.
Ogunsuyi has been named among the substitutes three times in the Championship this term, and could yet follow in the footsteps of young stars Chris Rigg, 17, and Tommy Watson, 18, in breaking through. Sunderland have overseen Ogunsuyi's development for the last eight years and the young striker is a Belgium youth international.
Sunderland boss Le Bris believes the young talent has plenty of players to look up to at the Stadium of Light. He said: “Yes, I think so. He's very young and probably Riggy, Tommy and Jobe are the best examples to follow in our club.
"When you move to another club with a very strong squad you have to find the right environment to develop yourself. I don't know. Social media and so on can talk a lot but at the end if we create the right environment and the player, his family and agents are rational, we are in a good place to create the right pathway for him."
Le Bris could soon provide a clear pathway into his side for Ogunsuyi, bit the Frenchman was cautious of making predictions over how quickly the teenager could feature for Sunderland's senior side. "I don't know really. It's a question of opportunities," he added.
"He's been in training sessions so now we know each other and he knows the group. Sometimes you have to wait, sometimes it could happen after two or three games. He's close to the group."
Signing a striker is on the agenda for Sunderland however. "Probably we have a specific attention about one or two players who can help [strikers] but it’s not an easy task because the group is strong," Le Bris said.
"With many young players and many young surprises because some of them were not expected to play at that level and because they have had opportunities to play I think this is the identity of the club. They showed they were able to play at that level."
"It’s not just one more player, it's somebody who has to fit with the project and the make-up of the team and it’s not an easy task," he added.