Afforded an opportunity, Sunderland striker grabs initial month stint on loan at Harrogate Town

20-year-old Sunderland striker Andrew Nelson is set to join Harrogate Town on an initial month’s loan and has been training with the North Yorkshire club today.

The Stockton-born forward had a short stint at Hartlepool United last season which was cut short due to injury. A strong, powerful striker, Nelson had been expecting to travel to Everton this afternoon with the Sunderland Under-23s before the deal with the North Yorkshire side was struck yesterday.

Nelson has featured 7 times for the Under-23 side in Premier League 2 this term but has yet to make his senior debut for Sunderland.

Harrogate are top of National League North, having lost just once so far this term and have scored twice as many goals as anyone else in the division. Home games are played at the 2,800 capacity CNG Stadium with crowds averaging 900 last season.

Photo by Anna Gowthorpe/Getty Images

As we reported earlier in the week, there had been interest from Scottish Championship clubs for Nelson in the summer as well as opportunities lower down the league in England.

With Football League sides unable to loan players outside of transfer windows, moves to non-league clubs are still permitted which may yet afford others at Sunderland a chance to gain experience outside of the academy and U23 football this season.

Michael Ledger is the other academy product out on loan at Hartlepool United and 21-year-old goalkeeper Max Stryjek, who joined Sunderland in 2015 from Polish side Polonia Warsaw, is with Accrington Stanley.

Nelson will spend an initial month at Harrogate with a view to extending his spell with the full-time team.

The striker may yet have options to get some league experience when the transfer window opens in January but with Town aiming for promotion to the National League proper and banging in goals for fun, the spell could be an enjoyable one for the Black Cats youngster.