Michael Beale identifies players Sunderland need to 'step up' as Mason Burstow recall is ruled out

Sunderland have no plans to end the loan of Chelsea striker Mason Burstow early despite their attempts to sign another striker this month, Michael Beale has confirmed.

Burstow has failed to find the net for Sunderland so far despite starting more games than any of the Black Cats’ other four strikers.

There had been talk of him returning to Chelsea this month as a result, although Beale is not expecting that.

The main reason there is that Burstow has already played minutes for Chelsea this season. He came off the bench in the Premier League games against Luton and West Ham in August, as well as starting their EFL Cup game against Wimbledon.

Players cannot play for three clubs in one season, meaning he would be unable to join another club on loan this season.

"Mason is going to stay here I believe,” Beale said ahead of the trip to Ipswich.

"We've had those conversations [about sending him back to Chelsea] and, as it stands right now, he'll be here until the end of the season.

“He is training well and he did start seven games under the previous coach and the team got good results, albeit without Mason scoring.

"All four of the strikers who've come in, what you have to say is they might not have contributed goals but they must have contributed because the team is sitting sixth in the league. After 26 games, I think everyone would have taken that at the start of the season."

Beale also confirmed that Sunderland are “looking” for a new centre forward this month, although nothing is imminent.

However, he also thinks the amount of talent at the club shouldn’t be dismissed either, even if it is just an optimism for the future with regard a couple of them.

"Mason came on at Rotherham in a difficult game and on a difficult pitch, and then I put [Nazariy] Rusyn in [against Preston] and he scored a really good goal, and his work ethic was really infectious.

"I've tried to re-energise that area, [Eliezer] Mayenda and [Luis] Hemir are showing good signs in training, Hemir is a fantastic finisher. Those two were probably bought with an eye to the future.

"So we'll see, we'd like to see some work in the final third because we've also lost Bradley [Dack] and Paddy [Roberts] for a while. It's a big opportunity for people like Adil [Aouchiche] and Abdoullah [Ba], who I'm looking to step up as well."

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