A last minute flight over to the North East and a dash to complete paperwork to get a deal over the line. It was quite the manic finish to the January transfer window for young Rhys Walsh.
The Black Cats completed the signing of the 17-year-old talent on a two-and-a-half year deal from NIFL Premiership side Glentoran, for an undisclosed fee. Another sign, if it were needed, of Sunderland commitment to their long-term blueprint of unearthing and nurturing young talent.
"On the one hand we're losing Josh [Robertson] but on the second hand we've got young Rhys [Walsh] who is joining us bar a little bit of paperwork," Kristjaan Speakman told We Are Sunderland last week. "Which I think just shows, from our football club, whether it's senior first-team players all the way down to our youth team, we're trying to acquire talent where possible."
Sunderland fended off interest from Championship rivals Stoke City to sign Walsh, who coincidentally shares the same agent as Black Cats' right-back Trai Hume.
The Wearsiders had taken Walsh on trial last summer and kept in touch with the young talent with the view to completing a permanent deal.
They weren't alone in offering Walsh a trial, with the Potters also keen on his services earlier this season, but the Northern Ireland youth international made it clear he wanted to move to Sunderland having enjoyed his trial period.
There's hope from within the club, that Walsh's career will follow a similar trajectory to Hume and break into the senior set-up in the years to come.
Having made eight appearances for Glentoran, six of those in the recent campaign and one in a UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying round, it's clear Walsh has plenty of potential.
Sunderland academy manager, Robin Nicholls, stressed that Walsh's signing was one for the long-term, but was pleased to get the deal over the line before the January transfer window closed.
Nicholls said: “Rhys is a player we have coveted for some time and he spent a period with us on trial earlier in 2023. He is an exciting forward, who can operate on either wing or play centrally, and he will join our Under-18 set-up for the remainder of the season.
"We are delighted to welcome him to Sunderland and after gaining senior experience this season with Glentoran, we hope that he will be able to settle quickly and hit the ground running.”
As has been the case in recent seasons, Sunderland have taken a plunge into the unknown, with Stuart Harvey - head of player recruitment - the mastermind behind unearthing these hidden gems across the globe.
To Sunderland supporters, Walsh is an unknown, but to Harvey, the transfer has taken months of planning and a number of scouting trips across the Irish sea.
"There's been interest in him since the summer," Glentoran boss Warren Feeney exclusively told We Are Sunderland. "I only got the job in the summer but I went to school with Stuart Harvey and he's someone that I know.
"There was a bit of interest before I arrived, not just from Sunderland but he was over there at another Championship club not long ago. He's gone to a great club and one that I know well with a great fanbase.
"Stuart has been over and it's a good market over here. You just have to look at Trai Hume. There's a good market and we get them into men's football.
"No disrespect to the academies, and that's the good thing about Rhys, is that he'll be going over there with a head start on some of those players because he's played men's football."
Feeney, a former Northern Ireland international and experienced football league striker, knows just what it takes to cut it in the English game after breaking through at Leeds United.
"I've played football myself at a professional level and I've seen these kids where people say 'he's going across the world and he's going to make it.' Rhys does have that chance to do it," he said when asked about his hopes for the winger.
"I look at him off the park, he's got the edge to him, not in a sarcastic way but he's got that arrogance where he backs his ability.
"To come from where he's come, a Catholic upbringing, to a big, predominantly Protestant club on the other side, is hard for any player over here and people know there's a history. That's what I liked about him.
"We've good coaches here, a good pathway and as Sunderland with Trai from Linfield - our rivals - Rhys has got a great future ahead of him. When I come in here, I always said it's such a big club for Northern Ireland, I wanted to give the youth a chance.
"The kid has got an edge and nothing fears him. He's a kid off the street, a good background, working class background where, as I said not in a disrespectful way, but feet firmly on the ground.
"As a player, he's on that'll excite people. For me, he's got a knack of taking people on, on that left-hand side with his right foot on the outside.
"He's one where I'm sad he's went, but the kid deserves to go and he's got a hell of a chance to go on and be a hell of a player if he goes it right. He's got bundles of ability, lots of pace and he's a bit like an old fashioned winger for me to be honest."
READ MORE: Is Romaine Mundle Sunderland's successor to Jack Clarke
Like Hume before him, Walsh is expected to develop with Sunderland's youth sides before looking to make the jump into the senior set-up at the Stadium of Light.
The former of the two was slightly further along in his development before sealing that move to Wearside, but Feeney has no doubt Walsh can follow in Hume's footsteps.
"He [Walsh] had two appearances before I came in, in the County Antrim Shield as a 16-year-old," Feeney said. "The rest have all been under me and I looked at him, he was just breaking in before he went to Sunderland and was probably going to start the next few games for me.
"I think he's got a chance. He's not a big time person. He'll get people of their seats. He's got pace and will glide past people at times.
"He's got that ability to shift the ball quickly one vs one, but as I said, in Europe he come on for us and hit the crossbar. His biggest strength is his pace, when he squares you up one vs one, nine times out of ten he'll get past you.
"I just looked at him, when you see right footers playing on the left, they always want to come in the pitch but he can go the other way, which is an art to me. He'll be an exciting player for Sunderland."
Despite breaking into the first-team set-up at Glentoran, there's very little statistical data out there for the young winger.
A quick look at some scouting clips shows Walsh has a similar running style to a certain Jack Clarke, a right footer on the left and clearly not afraid to take people on.
As Feeney points out, Walsh has that artistic like ability to take players on down the line with his right foot, breezing past opposition with ease, but that's not to say he isn't comfortable using his left foot, although it's the weaker of the two.
Far from the finished product, it would be unfair to put pressure on the young talent and state he's a potential successor to Clarke - unlike Romaine Mundle who's further along with his development - but his development will be one to watch in the weeks and months to come.
Marsh has plenty of potential and Sunderland, as they've shown in years gone by, is the perfect place to fulfil those ambitions.
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"There's no doubt he's got a long way to go and he's gone to a great club," Feeney replied when asked if he could follow in his footsteps and pull on a Northern Ireland senior shirt in the future. "He's got to go to the next step but there's no doubt whatsoever if he keeps his feet on the ground.
"He can go on to be a good player for Northern Ireland but he's got to go in and break into that at Sunderland. He was at our game last week and flew back to Sunderland on the Monday. He speaks to my son a lot who's the same age as him.
"I always ask him to tell him to be professional and keep his feet on the ground. Don't get carried away with the bright lights up there."
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