Tony Mowbray has advised Jordan Willis to look elsewhere for first team football - despite the defender continuing his rehab from long-term injury with Sunderland. Willis has not played for almost two years after suffering a ruptured patella tendon in a game at Shrewsbury Town in February 2021, and he later suffered a second rupture.
He joined the Black Cats in 2019 on a two-year contract which was later extended by another 12 months, before that deal expired in the summer. However Willis has continued his quest for fitness at the Academy of Light and has been training with the U21s, leading to talk that Sunderland might offer him a contract if he could prove his fitness - not least because Mowbray knows him well having previously managed him at Coventry City.
But Mowbray says the 28-year-old will need to play regular games to prove his fitness, and with the likes of Danny Batth, Daniel Ballard, Bailey Wright, Aji Alese, and Luke O'Nien all ahead of him in the pecking order on Wearside, he is unlikely to get much gametime at Sunderland and would be better off looking elsewhere. Asked whether there might be a deal for Willis at Sunderland, Mowbray said: "I've had that conversation with Jordan and I've had that conversation with the club.
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"I had Jordan at Coventry City and he played right-back for me although he is big and strong and athletic enough to play in central defence as well in a back three on the right hand side. His main attributes were his huge physical strength and speed. I didn't bring it [the conversation] to a definitive end, really. He has to get fit.
"He trains with the U21s, he has never trained with the first team. It's not a call I need to make or the club needs to make at this moment.
"He's been given another month up to January to continue his rehab, and at some stage he needs to play an in-house game or get himself in a match where it is not controlled and he's not always the floater, where people are allowed to tackle him and he has to go and win headers and beat people and slide tackle, and do everything that a football match entails. I've intimated to him that, in my opinion - because I look and see what we might be doing with recruitment going forward - he needs to get himself fit and then try and find a club where he can go and play matches with the pressure, the competition, we have here.
"If we brought in another defender, for instance, would that make him the number seven or number eight choice? If Ballard is here and Aji is here and Batth is here and Wright is here, and so on and so on.
"After being out for as long as he's been out, he needs a vehicle to show that he is fit. My suggestion to him is to get his advisors and his agent to sound people out and ask if a fit Jordan Willis is someone who could help your club.
"He could train with them for a few weeks and if they have a bounce game then he could play, and they might be getting the best free transfer they will ever have. That's where I feel it's at. It feels a bit harsh, but I don't think we can wait for him."
If Willis heeds Mowbray's advice, it may mean that he has to drop a division or two to find a club that can offer him regular games but his old boss says he should not be afraid to do that. "If he is good enough and strong enough as we all think he is, his career will come back up the leagues again," he said.
"I always say to young players not to worry about starting in the National League because if they are talented enough and motivated enough and driven enough, your talent will get you to the level you deserve to be at and it's the same with Jordan."
Willis was just months away from the end of his contract when he suffered the initial injury but Sunderland extended his deal to allow him to get fit, and that is the kind of move that Mowbray approves of. He said: "There's nobody more empathetic to footballers than me.
"I will sometimes fight their corner, especially if they are running down their contract. If Jordan was here and got injured as badly as he did and was running out of contract, I would be knocking on the door and saying we have to look after this kid because he's got family and he's got bills to pay.
"I did it at Blackburn a few times, saying 'let's extend their contract by six months and give them a chance'. My fingers are crossed for Jordan that he stays fit, but I do think that the club has to look past him at the moment with the players we have under contract."
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