This was reported by Alan Nixon via his Patreon account, with the Black Cats agreeing to a temporary deal to give the 20-year-old more experience.

Crompton played and scored against Tamworth on Tuesday night for Sunderland’s Under-21s, for whom he plays regularly, and will now join the fifth-placed team.

The versatile defender, who can play in the full back line after Nixon, started playing for the club’s Under-21 team when he was just 18 years old.

This will be the first loan move in the young career of Crompton, who is another of the bright talents to come out of the Black Cats’ youth system.

Sunderland AFC: Ben Crompton will move to Tamworth in the National League on loan.
Nixon announced via his Patreon account that Crompton will leave the Academy of Light by the end of the 2024/25 season.

The club’s Under-21 coach Graeme Murty, who was previously linked with becoming manager of North East National League side Hartlepool United before Lennie Lawrence was given the job until the end of the 2024/25 season, has asked Crompton and youth teammate Harrison Jones to be ready for a possible first-team call-up after they made pre-season appearances for Regis Le Bris.

“So if they are the next man up, for example, in the 21s like Jaydon Jones was and Jack Whittaker was from the under 18s, they were ready to go and if we get the call that someone is going to go and train with the first team our young players have to be ready and they have to go and make sure they show themselves really well.

“I think overall in pre-season those players who have gone and trained with the first team have done themselves very proud but they need to take the next step and not jump between the two teams.

“We want them to be so good that it becomes a permanent transfer, but they have to go and prove themselves and the first team has to say, actually I wouldn’t stay here.”

Crompton has already made his debut for the Black Cats first team. He made an appearance in an EFL Cup match against Crewe Alexandra at the start of last season and has also made several appearances on the first team bench in the current campaign.

However, he has not featured at senior level since, so this is likely to be the first experience of regular men’s competition that Crompton will receive.

Sunderland AFC must continue to look to loan young talent

Some very exciting young players have come through the Academy of Light in recent years. Anthony Patterson, Chris Rigg and Tommy Watson have all made the men’s squad, while others like Crompton are starting to make their mark in professional football through loan players.

This is a great way for teams to develop and test their inexperienced talent. Unless you are of the incredible calibre of the trio mentioned above, getting first team experience will not work for a team like Sunderland, especially with their current position at the top of the table.

Therefore, the alternative is to send players down the pyramid, which the Black Cats must continue to exploit wherever they can to ensure that those who they believe have a potential future in the first team are ready when the opportunity presents itself.