Sunderland winger Jewison Bennette has struggled for regular minutes this season and could go out on loan next month
Sunderland manager Mike Dodds believes the club will consider a January loan move for Jewison Bennette, but only if the situation is conducive to his future ambitions on Wearside.
Bennette has not played much for the first team this season, having been sidelined by an illness and subsequently a slight ankle injury. Dodds believes a loan next month may be the best short-term option for the winger, who is expected to be completely healthy in the very near future but has tremendous competition for spots. Sunderland would prefer that Bennette stay in the UK to learn the language, but Dodds believes that finding the right team is equally vital.
“Any of those young players who aren’t playing as much as we’d like, I think it [a loan] needs to be discussed because we have invested in them and we see them as a long-term project,” Dodds said.
“We need to be really selective in terms of where we can get Jewi where someone wants to play him, that plays a similar type of style as Sunderland where he can practice the things that we want him to practice and that we want him to get better at. It might be abroad, it might be in this country.
“Those are things that we need to decide for what is right for this football club.”
Bennette’s last senior appearance on Wearside was a late substitute in the 5-0 win over Southampton in September.