Tony Mowbray is reluctant to throw 'raw' youngster Max Thompson in at the deep end to help Sunderland's quest for goals. The 20-year-old has scored five goals in five games for the U21s in Premier League 2 since joining from Burnley over the summer and, with senior centre-forwards Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms sidelined through injury, promoting Thompson is an option open to Mowbray.
The Sunderland boss has spoken many times of needing to 'find a way' to score goals while Stewart and Simms are out, and to that end he has tried using Alex Pritchard as a false nine in some games, and on Tuesday night against Blackpool he played on-loan Manchester United man Amad Diallo as a central striker, while Leon Dajaku has come on from the bench to play up front. However, after scoring five goals in their first two games at Reading and Watford without a striker, Sunderland's two home games against Preston and Blackpool this week ended goalless.
The search for goals continues as Sunderland head to Swansea City tomorrow, and Thompson can claim prior first-team involvement having made his Premier League debut from the bench as an 18-year-old in June 2020, albeit in the final few minutes of Burnley's 5-0 defeat at Manchester City. But while he has trained with Sunderland's senior group on several occasions, Mowbray believes he is not yet ready to play at Championship level.
