Sunderland: Regis Le Bris on "difficult" Milan Aleksic & Tommy Watson decision | OneFootball

The French head coach has been having to wrestle with this since the transfer window closed.

Regis Le Bris has admitted that it's been "difficult" for him to judge when the appropriate time for Deadline Day signing Milan Aleksic and youth team star Tommy Watson to get first team minutes will be.

Many of the players signed by Sunderland in the French head coach's first summer in charge at the Stadium of Light are yet to have a real impact.

Alan Browne and Wilson Isidor, who scored in Sunderland's 2-1 loss to Watford on Saturday, are the two players to really lay their mark on this team after arriving in the summer. The rest have been patiently waiting in the background. New addition Aaron Connolly is expected to get the same treatment.

For the other newcomers - those with less experience of first team football - like Aleksic, who they reportedly paid close to €4 million for, this slow build up is less of a shock. The plan is to eventually bring them in, but Le Bris has admitted that there have been some struggles with this.

Regis Le Bris on when is the right time to use Milan Aleksic and Tommy Watson

The head coach has said it's been tough to decide when to expose the likes of the Serbian midfielder and other young players like Watson to the first-team. This has been an issue for him with other players too.

"The new players, for example, Ian Poveda, Tommy Watson, Naz (Rusyn)...they are now ready to play but they were either not fit before or did not have a lot of experience at the level," said Le Bris, via the Northern Echo. "So the efficiency of the core [of the team] will be important, how we can play with efficiency and less energy [in busy weeks].

"For the other players, it is picking the right moment to play them in the team - for the level of the team and for their confidence.

"For example with a young player if it is too early, they could fail and this picture, this image can stay with them for three, four, five months. It is important to pick the right moment.

"For Tommy [Watson] and Milan, it is exactly the same question. We trust them because we think they have many qualities and the potential to perform well, to play for Sunderland and give a new profile in our squad.

"It is still difficult to find the right moment to play. Sometimes you do not have the choice and sometimes we can choose, so for Tommy he had I think 12 minutes on Saturday and this was perfect for him.

"For Milan, I don't know exactly at the minute. He's good in the training sessions but we still have to make sure it is the right moment and we have Alan Browne now available."

Sunderland's good start allows them time to develop these youngsters

There's no question that the likes of Aleksic and Watson are very well thought of. The clips of the young winger playing for the youth team have already excited the Sunderland faithful, convincing them that they already have another Jack Clarke coming through the ranks.

Sunderland hit another bump in the road on Saturday against the Hornets. They are still in the top two, though, and one other positive was the dozen or so minutes that the 17-year-old got.

Aleksic, like the club's other Deadline Day signings Salis Abdul Samed and Ahmed Abdullahi, is yet to make his Championship debut.

Even though the Black Cats faced a minor setback on Saturday, in what has been a fantastic start to the new season for them, it shouldn't be dwelled upon too much.

Not only have they positioned themselves as one of the strong teams in the division, but this good start to the campaign has provided them with the time they would need to slowly develop these raw talents.

Like Le Bris said, if you chuck them in too early and they begin to sink, that can be really damaging. Thankfully for them, they don't have to be reliant on many of their young summer additions right now.