Tottenham starlet Kazaiah Sterling says it was vital to join Sunderland on loan to play regularly in a first-team environment. The 20-year-old made the move to the Black Cats last week and made his debut for the League One side last weekend when coming on as a substitute in the win over AFC Wimbledon.
The forward is on loan with the Wearsiders until the end of the season and he says getting a temporary move away from Spurs was important as he’s now at the stage in his career when he needs to play first-team football. “No, not if it meant I got gametime” he told the Chronicle when asked if he was worried about dropping down to League One. “That was what was really important to me, and as long as I had the chance, I was willing to do it.
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“There was never really a doubt for me about going to play in League One. I felt that this was the right time for me to go out on loan. “And Sunderland is such a big club, you don’t often get opportunities like this, especially for my first loan. I’ve played quite a lot of youth football and it was really important for my development for me to go out on loan and get gametime.”
Sterling has made two sub appearances for Spurs and is on the fringes of Mauricio Pochettino’s squad but he has decided to head out on loan rather than try and force his way into the side in the final months of the season and hopes he benefits in the same way plenty of others have in the past
He added: “That [the chance of involvement at Spurs] was definitely on my mind but I felt that, turning 20, this would be a better chance for me to play regular football rather than get on for five mins. “It’s always a dilemma but you have to come out of your comfort zone. If you look at players like Harry Kane and Andros Townsend, they stepped out of their comfort zone even earlier than I have and that has helped shape them into the players they are today.”
