Tony Mowbray on Sunderland ace: "He's got a rocket in his right foot, but have you ever seen it?"

Sunderland boss has spoken of his frustration in getting the best out of youngster.

Tony Mowbray has spoken of his frustration with Leon Dajaku, saying the Sunderland forward doesn’t showcase his talent enough.

Dajaku is in his second season with Sunderland after initially joining on loan, although he is struggling for game time after a promising start on Wearside.

The 21-year-old has fallen behind the likes of Patrick Roberts, Jack Clarke and Amad Diallo in terms of playing in a wide position and struggled as a striker when deputising for the injured Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms.

Mowbray, though, still believes the German has a lot of talent, and he has urged him to back himself more to show it.

“He's got some good attributes and he needs to get his confidence levels up," Mowbray said.

"He needs to believe in himself. He has got a rocket in his right foot which he doesn't show anybody enough - I watch him in training and he can take the net off the goals with the power in his right foot, and yet have you ever seen it?

"I keep saying 'when you get on your right foot, shoot!' I see it in training and it's amazing. If anything, he tries a bit too hard. And is he a central striker? Does he want to play wide?

"He's got some competition if he wants to play wide in this team. The opportunity was there to play him centre-forward but I'm not sure he is comfortable with his back to goal, he needs the ball in front of him chasing onto it.

"It's trying to see the players you've got and how you're going to put them into the team in the way we're going to play. I think he is just falling a little bit in between because he is not a back-to-goal centre-forward who can hold people off and bring people in, yet he probably hasn't got the blistering speed that you need to really threaten the space behind them."

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