Young Nigerian striker Joel Asoro is having a banner season at Sunderland so much so that he has been linked with a return to a Premier League club in the summer.

The 18-year-old broke into the first team of the Black Cats in 2018, having featured in all of their last nine matches in the Championship and scoring two goals against Hull City and Middlesbrough.

''When I came in people maybe looked at me and thought, he’s too little, too weak, too young, but you just can’t give up, keep working and keep believing,'' Asoro was quoted as saying by Sunderland Echo.

''It has taken me a year, you can get angry when you’re not getting the minutes, but you’ve just got to keep going.

''There’s a bit of competition up front, but you have to be ready, can you bring some energy from the bench?

''I’m playing in two positions, but at the end of the day I’ve got to do the same things.

''I was expecting at the start of the season to get a few minutes, but the way things have gone, I’ve been lucky.''

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Asoro, who is on the radar of the Nigerian Federation, is the youngest player of Nigerian descent to debut in the English Premier League, aged 17 years and 117 days, when he came on in the 81st minute of Sunderland's 2-1 loss to Middlesbrough on August 21, 2016.

Igho Kingsley

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