Dion Sanderson has been named the Sunderland AFC Supporters’ Young Player of the Year.
The 21-year-old defender arrived on a season-long loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers in October and quickly became a popular figure on Wearside, making a total of 27 appearances and contributing to 10 clean sheets.
Sanderson scored his first professional goal during his time at the Stadium of Light, heading home to open the scoring in March’s 2-0 win over Rochdale.
A back injury sustained against Wigan Athletic unfortunately ended his season last month, but his defensive maturity and versatility earned many plaudits over the course of the campaign and he played a pivotal role as the Lads reached the Sky Bet League One Play-Offs.
After collecting the award, Sanderson said: “My time here at Sunderland has been class. When I came here, all I wanted to do was just as much as I could to help the boys. I have every confidence in the team to finish the job and win the Play-Offs. I had to work hard to get in the team to begin with – I was in and out of the squad at the start, but since the Head Coach came in, he gave me a chance and everything I feel has gone well. The fans have been absolutely class, and for me it couldn’t have gone any better.”
Cath Reid said: “On behalf of the Branch Liaison Council, it gives us immense pleasure to present Dion Sanderson with the Supporters’ Young Player of the Year award. We have enjoyed watching Dion throughout his loan spell from Wolverhampton Wanderers and we believe he fully deserves the award for his contribution throughout the course of the season. We wish him the very best with his recovery and know that he will be with us every step of the way during the Play-Offs.”
Sanderson joins an impressive list of players to win the Supporters’ Young Player of the Year award, which includes Jordan Henderson, Jordan Pickford and Fabio Borini among others.