Alex Neil praised new signing Aji Alese after the young defender made his Sunderland debut in today's 2-0 pre-season win at Dundee United. Alese joined the Black Cats from West Ham yesterday, and was included on the bench for the trip to Tannadice.
The 21-year-old came on for the final 25 minutes against Jack Ross' Scottish Premiership side and caught the eye in an impressive start to his Sunderland career. "He's very different to what we have already got," said Neil.
"He is big, strong, powerful, and he's left-footed so he gives us balance. He can equally play left-back as well as left centre-back, so he covers both positions off - certainly last year we were light in that area, so I think that's important.
READ MORE: Aji Alese outlines why he left West Ham United for Sunderland
"I think he's a good signing. He's not played a lot of minutes so what we don't want to do is be too judgmental too early, but he certainly has the raw attributes to become a big, powerful, centre-back. You could see today that he can step in, he can cut a line, hit a diagonal.
"He's got the tools."
Both Sunderland's goals came in the second half, with full-back Trai Hume heading home the first shortly after half-time, before an own-goal from Charlie Mulgrew just after the hour doubled the Black Cats' lead. Sunderland should probably have scored more goals with Ross Stewart, in particular, passing up a couple of presentable chances.
Neil said: "In the first half, I thought we moved the ball really well. I actually thought we played better in the first half, yet in the second we scored two goals.
"Sometimes in these games it is a case of wearing the opposition down. We are in the middle of pre-season at the moment, at times we played the patterns we wanted really well, and we perhaps just lacked the cutting edge we needed in the final third - but, naturally, that's normally the last thing that comes before the season starts."
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