End of Season Report Card: What marks did Sunderland’s attackers get?

Adil Aouchiche: D

When we signed Adil Aouchiche I had high hopes that he would be able to step into the role that Amad Diallo left, given his skillset and background. Yet, he’s barely had a proper chance or run in his best position and you have to wonder why. I think he’s got ability and maybe next season will be his ‘arrival’ at Sunderland, but this wasn’t a great campaign for him as he didn’t play anywhere near enough.

Jewison Bennette: D

Whenever Jewi did appear early in the season I thought he did okay. In fact, his last act in a Sunderland shirt was to do three pirouettes and stick a cross right on Chris Rigg’s head to round off the scoring in our 5-0 demolition of Southampton. What the hell happened after that?! I have no idea. It seems he was held back, then shipped out on loan to Greece in January where he played a handful of times before picking up a season-ending injury.

I actually like him and think he’s not really been managed well at all.

Mason Burstow: F

I’m not really a huge fan of digging young players out, but Burstow has not made the most of this opportunity at all, and I’d be amazed if he has anything resembling a future at Chelsea. He just isn’t good enough for the Championship and maybe a move down the leagues to a club that plays under less pressure can help him to kickstart his career.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

Jack Clarke: A+

Our star player this season, elevating himself in the eyes of many to Premier League quality status. He’s been a joy to watch on our left hand side at times and has scored some cracking goals — if he’s somehow still here after the summer we’ll be lucky.

He’s been outstanding at times.

Eliezer Mayenda: D-

Has barely played, both for Sunderland and Hibernian. Hopefully the loan will have done him the world of good and he’ll come back in pre-season fit and firing, but you have to remember how young and inexperienced he is — he was signed as one for the future.

That said, it would have been nice if he’d scored a goal or two.

Romaine Mundle: C-

Like Mayenda he was signed for his potential and I think he’s shown flashes of it, but never really managed to hold down a place in the team. Scored a canny goal away at Southampton which gave us a glimpse of what he can do, but he’ll need to do a lot more next season if he’s going to become a first team regular.

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Patrick Roberts: E

Nowhere near good enough unfortunately, and his levels have been nowhere near where they were the season before. Didn’t score a single goal, and his assists were layoffs for free kicks which, let’s be honest, aren’t real assists. Not sure he ever recovered from Amad leaving and then the furore around his future last summer, but he needs to forget about all of that over the summer and come back hungry. He’s a far better player than we’ve seen recently.

Nazariy Rusyn: C-

Of the four strikers we signed he fared the best, and the timing of his injury was unfortunate as I think he would have had a canny run at that centre forward position towards the end of the season. But, it wasn’t to be. He’s got canny movement and I think there’s potential there, but it’s clear we need a proven scorer up top and that might just nudge him down the pecking order and potentially even out the door.

Hemir: E

It just hasn’t happened for him unfortunately, but I think he has been badly managed at times too. Still a young kid though and needs a loan next season to gain valuable experience.

Tommy Watson: B+

What a second half of the season this lad has had for the U21s — he’s started gaining a reputation for all the right reasons after some canny performances. The question on my mind, however, is... why was he not used more towards the end of the season in the first team? There was no good reason why he wasn’t given a chance, especially when Jack Clarke was injured.