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.
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"Plymouth are a team right up at the top end of League One, if he goes there and plays he'll be much closer to being ready to play in our team and compete to play in our team. When the deal came in I said I felt it was a good one for him, and we took him out of the team.
"It's a good move for him and hopefully he does really well, helps them get promotion and then comes back a much more confident and ready footballer. We do now need a central midfielder I think, just to bring that competition.
"It's a position we're looking at but I'm not sure how well on we are on with it right now. We need a centre-forward as well of course, there's a few things going on behind the scenes.
"My job is to coach the team but I do give my opinion and mine is that we need a midfielder. We need competition at the top end of the pitch as well so that we don't have situations like today where we've got two midfielders playing as false nines - we want the young guys getting chances in the positions they play."
Leon Dajaku was also due to play at Shrewsbury but was absent from the squad through injury, with Mowbray adding: "Leon was going to start down the middle but got injured in the build-up to the game, that was frustrating for him and for us."
Lynden Gooch returned to the squad after recovering from the hamstring strain he suffered on Boxing Day, but was an unused substitute at the New Meadow.
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