Sunderland will look to add a central midfielder in the January transfer window after agreeing to let Jay Matete join League One leaders Plymouth Argyle on loan. Matete joined the Pilgrims on Friday on a loan deal that runs until the end of the season, with head coach Tony Mowbray sanctioning the move despite having pencilled the 21-year-old in to start the Black Cats' FA Cup third round tie at Shrewsbury Town.
As Sunderland were booking their place in the fourth round thanks to two injury-time goals from Ross Stewart and Luke O'Nien which gave them a 2-1 win, Matete was making his debut as a substitute for Plymouth at Bolton. But while Mowbray was keen for Matete to go out on loan to get regular games rather than be a bit-part player on Wearside, he feels that Sunderland need to bring in another midfielder as competition within the squad, as well as a centre-forward to replace Ellis Simms who was recalled from his loan spell by Everton last weekend.
"Jay was going to play today, he did the game prep but this deal came along and I've been telling him for a while that I think he should go and get 15 or 20 games consecutively," said Mowbray. "He shouldn't stay here if it's going to be a substitute appearances every so often.
