MICHAEL Beale has revealed Hemir could leave on loan this month - but only if Sunderland are successful in their bid to sign a striker.

But the head coach has categorically ruled out a loan for Eliezer Mayenda, who he believes is better off developing at Sunderland, even if he isn't a first team regular at this stage.

Bolstering the forward-line is the priority for Sunderland in the final stages of the window, and with Beale having already confirmed that Chelsea loanee Mason Burstow is set to stay on Wearside for the remainder of the season, the addition of another striker would mean the Black Cats had five on their books.

Hemir, a summer arrival from Benfica B, hasn't started for Sunderland since the opening day defeat to Ipswich Town and is still waiting for his first goal in red and white.

He hasn't featured since the arrival of Beale and was left out of the squad for seven successive games before returning to the bench for last weekend's defeat to Ipswich.

Beale thinks a loan move might be beneficial but has high hopes for Hemir in the future.

"We'll have to see what comes in. Maybe it would help Semedo because he's a little bit older, although I've seen some really good signs," said Beale of the 20-year-old.

"He's a fantastic finisher, he just has to work on some other areas of his game. His fitness, he's not played a lot of football, when I came in he was someone I wanted to get their legs moving it's fair to say.

"The type of player he is, he's only going to get better as he gets older because he's a bigger stronger centre-forward, so backing into centre-halves, he's come out of playing B-team football in Portugal to playing in the Championship against hurly-burly men. He's learning on the job."

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Mayenda, on the other hand, is going nowhere. The 18-year-old has made a couple of substitute appearances since Beale's appointment and even if the arrival of another striker pushes him down the pecking order, the head coach believes the teenager is best off staying and developing on Wearside. He's likely to feature regularly for the Under-21s after bagging a double in last week's 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest.

He said: "Mayenda is a different case. Mayenda is much younger in terms of his football. Being here and working with our staff and playing the odd Under-21 game, that can help his confidence, like the other day, he scored two excellent goals and got an assist.

"I've seen that bounce from him in training. These boys have come in from overseas and everything has changed around them.

"We really have to work hard to see the same player in our building that we wanted to recruit from outside."