TONY MOWBRAY has hinted that Joe Anderson will be sent out on loan in the first half of next season to aid with his footballing development.

Anderson, a 22-year-old centre-half, joined Sunderland from Everton in January, but despite injuries to fellow defenders Aji Alese and Dan Ballard, his solitary senior appearance for the Black Cats came as a substitute in February’s draw with Millwall.

The youngster was an unused substitute in Friday’s goalless draw with Burnley, but Mowbray has hinted he could find himself back in the first team in the remaining seven matches of the season.

After that, he will almost certainly get further opportunities to impress during pre-season, although Mowbray has admitted he is already considering proposing a loan move next term.

“I want to try to use them all (Sunderland’s young players) if I can, but we have to choose the right games,” said the Black Cats boss. “Joe’s doing really – he’s training well and he’s got a good personality.

“For me, he’s a centre-half in the same mould as players from my previous club like Scott Wharton and Hayden Carter – young defenders that I sent out on loan to Portsmouth and Cambridge, and then they came back and played in the first team every week.

READ MORE:

“They go and grow that muscle, they get experience, they come back with a couple of tattoos – you know what I mean, they’re turning into men.

“I’m not saying that’s what we’ll do with Joe, but it we get recruitment right and things are going okay through pre-season, we might have that discussion with him. We’ll see if he wants to go and play 25 games and then come back in the New Year and see where we feel he’s at.”

Having earned a creditable draw at Burnley on Friday, Sunderland head into the Easter weekend in decent shape.

They host Hull City on Good Friday before heading to Cardiff City on Easter Monday, with a seven-point gap currently separating them from the play-off places.