Sunderland academy manager Ged McNamee has welcomed the arrival of Duncan Watmore from Altrincham.
The former Manchester United junior became the first signing of Paolo di Canio's reign.
"He's a young lad playing in a man's game and he was obviously observed by a number of staff who have all said the same good things about him," McNamee told safc.com.
"He's very direct, works very, very hard, he's got a good attitude and, in some of the games that were observed, he's played against senior players who've been round the block a bit and he's taken a lot of heavy punishment, but he just gets up and gets on with it.
"He's got something there that obviously we need and he has that potential; that's why we brought him in - it's up to us now to see if we can develop it and take it forward."