Regis Le Bris’ exciting Milan Aleksic Sunderland prediction

REGIS Le Bris says it’s only a matter of time before things “click” for Milan Aleksic at Sunderland.

The Black Cats were delighted to land the young midfielder last summer, with Aleksic extremely highly-rated in his homeland having received a call-up to the full Serbia squad shortly before his Sunderland switch.

But Aleksic has had to be patient in his first full season on Wearside, making only four Championship appearances and one start.

Le Bris, however, always felt that it would be important to give Aleksic time and believes the 19-year-old will benefit enormously from the “foundations” he’s built on and off the pitch in his first season in England.

“Milan is a really young player, talented with many young skills,” said Sunderland’s head coach.

He's a real asset' Régis Le Bris is the calm head leading Sunderland's revolution - Chronicle Live

“I think this year is very important for him to connect with the country, culture and the club. Sometimes players need time.

“What we saw so far was this period of connection and adaptation. At some stage it will click. He’s building his foundations and we’ll see for the next stage.”

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When it comes to the importance of a settling in period, Aleksic doesn’t have to look far for proof.

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Last season, in his first campaign at the club, Eliezer Mayenda was a fringe figure, starting only one Championship game before a January loan switch to Hibs, where he also hardly featured.

But this season, Mayenda has established himself as a key figure in Le Bris’ squad, featuring in 29 of Sunderland’s 37 Championship games.

“Eli is a really good example,” said Le Bris.

“I don’t think we expected Eli at that level at the beginning of the season. We were searching for strikers but we had a good striker. “He needed one year to adapt, even if he didn’t play much last season. He didn’t play a massive amount of minutes last season but the experience was really useful for him.”

Aleksic is almost certain to have to settle for a place on the bench again today as Sunderland look to sign off for the international break with a positive result at Coventry.

The Sky Blues have been in blistering form but had their momentum halted after a surprise midweek defeat at Derby.

Boss Frank Lampard said: “The reaction has been good this week, and results like Tuesday happen in football.

“We’ve been on an amazing run and so it’s important that we realise what we’ve been doing. We’ve got a really tough game coming up. Derby was quite a specific game, so all focus now on to Sunderland.

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“Sunderland had a long period this season to work with a manager from the very start of pre-season. They’ve got good players, good individuals, and there’s no fortune in what they’re doing so they very much deserve to be where they are in the league.”