Sunderland have been able to bring through a number of talented players through their academy system over the years to bolster their first team or move on to other clubs.
Who is the most expensive Sunderland academy graduate?
The Black Cats have the likes of Anthony Patterson, Dan Neil, and Chris Rigg currently in their squad after their progression from academy to senior football.
Whether any of them fetch a mega fee remains to be seen, with the likes of Jordan Pickford, Jordan Henderson and Co making Sunderland big bucks in years gone by.
Academy graduate | Transfer fee acquired |
|---|---|
Jordan Pickford | £18.8m |
Jordan Henderson | £8.6m |
Anthony Patterson | £6m |
John Egan | £5.1m |
Josh Maja | £4.3m |
It will be interesting to see how that list looks in five to ten years when the current crop of youth prospects on Wearside are given the chance to showcase their ability at first-team level.
Alongside Rigg, one player who could be set for a breakout year is Harry Gardiner.
Who is Harry Gardiner?
One of those potential first-team stars in the future is U21 centre-forward Gardiner, a 19-year-old English number nine residing in the Academy of Light.
He was born just up the road from Sunderland in Alnwick and started his youth career with Shields before completing a move to the Stadium of Light on a free transfer midway through the 2020/21 campaign.
How much does Harry Gardiner earn?
According to Salary Sport, the striker is currently on a wage of £430-per-week, which places him joint-tenth among academy players at the club.
It is considerably less than the £15k-per-week that first-team star Jack Clarke is said to be on, with the former Tottenham Hotspur magician being the team’s top earner at present.
Gardiner has a long way to go before being closer to the top of the list but he could get there if a first-team opportunity arises and he is able to make the most of it over the years to come.
How many goals has Harry Gardiner scored?
The 19-year-old has been an impressive scorer at U18 and U21 level for Sunderland and as a result, the youth team star could be Tony Mowbray’s eventual heir to Ross Stewart, who departed the club earlier this month.
Gardiner joined the club’s U18 side in 2021 and initially struggled to find his feet during his first season. He scored twice and assisted just one goal in 15 U18 Premier League matches, which shows that the teen found it difficult to make an impact at the top end of the pitch on a regular basis.
However, the former Shields gem eventually found stable footing during the 2021/22 campaign as he plundered six goals and one assist in ten league matches for the U18 team.
This led to him being moved to the U21 side for the start of the 2022/23 season where Gardiner proved that he was ready for the step up to that level.
The Black Cats prodigy produced seven goals in 12 Premier League 2 games but only started ten of those matches, which included 9.4 full 90 minutes. This means that he found the back of the net an impressive 0.75 times per 90 on average, better than one every other match.
In fact, Sunderland’s U21 team benefited from him being on the pitch as they outscored the opposition 21 goals to 19 during his appearances. The team averaged 0.21 goals more than the other side per 90, meaning he impressively helped the U21s to be successful with his performances, and goals, last season.
Gardiner has failed to score in the first three games of the current campaign but has racked up two goals in his last two appearances against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United in the Premier League Cup and Premier League 2.
How many goals did Ross Stewart score for Sunderland?
The now-Southampton striker enjoyed a fantastic spell on Wearside after his move to England from Scottish side Ross County in January 2021.
Stewart managed three goals in 12 League One appearances during the second half of that season, which included one goal in the play-offs.
He then hit his stride throughout the 2021/22 campaign as the Scottish star produced an outstanding 26 goals and three assists in 49 League One matches to help Sunderland earn promotion to the Championship via the play-offs.
The 6 foot 3 centre-forward averaged a fantastic Sofascore rating of 7.25, which was the highest rating within the squad that term, and showcased his creative quality with nine ‘big chances’ provided for his teammates.
Stewart was able to follow that up with a sensational start to the 2022/23 season with the Black Cats as he took the division by storm.
The Scotland international netted an outstanding ten goals and assisted three in 13 league matches prior to suffering a season-ending Achilles injury at the start of this year.
He averaged a phenomenal Sofascore rating of 7.40, which was the highest within the squad for the second campaign in succession, whilst only two players – Oliver Norwood and Ryan Manning – averaged higher scores within the division.
In total, Stewart scored 40 goals in 80 appearances for Sunderland before his move to Southampton for a reported £12m on deadline day.
What does the future hold for Gardiner?
Gardiner plundered 15 goals in 27 games for Sunderland’s U18 and U21 teams combined since the start of the 2021/22 campaign, meaning that he has scored once every 1.8 outings on average.
Whereas, Stewart managed to score one goal every two matches on average for the first team throughout his time at the Stadium of Light.
This suggests that the potential is there for Gardiner, who signed a new contract this summer, to be a Stewart-esque figure for Mowbray if the 19-year-old can translate his academy form over to the senior squad in the future.
Journalist Josh Bunting hailed his “excellent” performances last term and stated that the prolific teen is “scoring goals”, something that is certainly backed up by the statistics.
It remains to be seen whether or not Mowbray will offer him the opportunity to make an impact at first-team level this season but the academy star’s goalscoring record is nothing to be sniffed at and the manager could unearth his Stewart replacement by giving him a chance this season.
