Sunderland strongly linked to highly-rated young Celtic winger - but is he any good?

No man has had a bigger impact on the career of Scotland international Lewis Morgan than current Sunderland manager Jack Ross, so it’s unsurprisingly to have seen him linked with a move to Wearside to join back up with his old gaffer.

Morgan is just 21-year old but scored 18 goals from the wing for St Mirren and was their most important player as they comfortably won the Scottish top flight this season, earning himself a long-term deal with treble-winning Glasgow Celtic in the process.

So, with that in mind, we spoke to our mates over at top Bhoys fansite (and fellow SBNation’ers) TJDSBlog to find out as much as we can about Morgan, what he’s capable of and whether or not they think there’s a chance that their top young prospect comes to Sunderland on loan this summer.

RR: Sunderland fans don’t know all that much about Lewis Morgan - what do you make of him?

Morgan is a talented young player who played a massive part in St Mirren winning the Championship and promotion back to the Premiership.

This was off the back of the previous season where he won the club’s player of the year award and played a pivotal role in them avoiding relegation to the third tier for the first time in his history.

His form for St Mirren saw him get a move to Celtic and become a regular in the Scotland U21 set up, where he impressed.

RR: And what do you make of the rumours that he’s one of Sunderland’s top targets this summer - do you think Celtic would let him go?

It’s not really surprising to see him linked with Sunderland now that Jack Ross is in charge. Jack raved about Lewis in the press and really helped bring Lewis’ game on over the last 18 months or so.

I’d imagine Jack’s relationship with Brendan Rodgers - along with the chance of Morgan getting the opportunity to further develop at another big club - is something Rodgers might be keen on and could see the move happen.

I’d imagine that would have to wait until Rodgers has another look at Morgan in pre-season training to decide whether he can make an immediate impact at Celtic or could use another season to develop.

SNS Group

RR: What would you say the ceiling is for Morgan and his potential - do you believe he’s capable of playing at a high level, with Celtic or elsewhere?

Personally, I believe he can eventually make an impact at Celtic after working alongside Rodgers and after getting some more experience at a higher level. He’s recently been capped for Scotland and hasn’t looked out of place in his cameo appearances for the national side.

RR: Sunderland are going to need tricky, dependable players next season in order to help fire us to promotion. Would you say Morgan fits the bill?

100%. Morgan had the potential at St Mirren to be a game changer which you could see in certain games, such as the 2-0 win over Dundee United in December 2017 - a huge result which pushed St Mirren on their charge to promotion. He is two-footed, fast, tricky and loves running at, and taking on, players. With 17 goals last season while predominantly playing out on the left says a lot.

RR: Much has been made of the good relationship that Jack Ross and Brendan Rogers have, and it wouldn’t be unfair to say that Ross has had the biggest influence of anyone on the career of Morgan. Do you think that might play a part in deciding where Morgan ends up this summer?

Yes potentially. Morgan has been intent that he is going to make an impact at Celtic and prove any doubters wrong. But if Rodgers feels he could use another season to develop there’s probably no better place for Morgan to do that than at Sunderland and working with Jack Ross and James Fowler again. If Celtic feel he isn’t quite ready for them at this point then a move to Sunderland seems like a no-brainer.