ANOTHER summer, another influx of youngsters to the Stadium of Light. Hemir Luis Semedo, 19. Jobe Bellingham, does not turn 18 until September. Nectarios Triantis, celebrated his 20th birthday in May. Jenson Seelt, also 20. Remarkably, the youngest squad in the Championship last season has just become even more youthful.

All of which means it is easy to assume that some of the players that have been around for a season or two are much older than their years. When Dan Neil strides into the press room at the Stadium of Light during the EFL Launch event that was staged earlier this week, the familiarity of his presence means it is does not feel as though you are about to talk to one of Sunderland’s youngsters. After all, Neil has skippered the side and played 104 senior games.

Yet Neil does not turn 22 until the end of November. In years gone by, he would have been an emerging youth talent, perhaps returning from a lower-league loan, hoping to force his way into the first-team picture over the course of the next nine months. Instead, as he looks ahead to his third full season as an established senior player, he is happy to embrace the leadership role that has fallen onto his shoulders. In a dressing room that boasts plenty of talent and energy, but lacks experience and Championship nous, Neil is one of the few players capable of blending all four assets together.

“There are a few lads older than me, but I have been at the club for a very, very, long time now,” said Neil, a boyhood Sunderland fan who famously watched the first team from the Stadium of Light stands before graduating into the playing ranks, “I think this is my third or fourth year of first-team football here.

“I had a chat with Mike Dodds (coach) about this the other day and he said I’ve played over 100 games now, I’m not a young boy, I’ve played a lot more games than some 25-year-olds. He has had that conversation with me about taking on a more leadership role within the squad, on and off the pitch.

The Northern Echo: Sunderland midfielder Dan NeilSunderland midfielder Dan Neil (Image: Ian Horrocks)

“I get on with all the squad and I think that part of my game is speaking on the pitch, so it’s definitely something I’m going to try and bring into my game more this year.”

Neil’s transition to his current leadership role has not always been smooth. He was dropped towards the end of the promotion-winning year in League One, with Alex Neil feeling he had burned himself out, but the appointment of Tony Mowbray has enabled him to take his career, and his football, to another level.

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In many ways, Neil is Mowbray’s ideal midfielder – creative, dynamic, comfortable in possession – and the Wearsider knows that his current head coach will always encourage him to be adventurous and take risks in the central third.

Last season, though, with Corry Evans sidelined for the bulk of the campaign, his responsibilities changed. Suddenly, he was the four rather than the eight, sitting deep to protect the back four and enable those around to break forward without having to worry too much about what was going on behind them.

With Evans still unavailable, it is a role Neil will once again be asked to fill on Sunday, when Sunderland kick off the new campaign against Ipswich Town, and while he admits it did not necessarily come naturally at first, mastering it has enabled him to improve his all-round midfield game.

“When we lost Corry, I definitely became that kind of senior midfielder and I kind of had to change my role a little bit,” he said. “It was Pierre (Ekwah) and Edu's (Michut) first season in senior football really and I definitely felt I had to kind of take on that Corry role. It is a massive role and to be honest, I didn't realise how important it was until I played it. I probably took Corry for granted, just bombing forward in front of him.

“I think stepping in has definitely added another string to my bow, and we’ve definitely worked on that partnership. I've played a lot of games with Pierre now, so I trust that if I break forward, he's going to sit and vice versa. I think we've built a good partnership on and off the pitch.”

While Neil will once again be tasked with taking on the majority of Sunderland’s defensive-midfield responsibilities, at least he will no longer find himself as one of the tallest players in the squad this season, a situation that undoubtedly caused problems last term.

The Northern Echo: Dan Neil in action for Sunderland last seasonDan Neil in action for Sunderland last season (Image: Ian Horrocks)

“I’ve managed to get on the edge of the box now (when defending set-pieces), rather than marking inside it,” he laughed. “I think you can see it was something that the club saw we needed to improve on. You’ve got Nectar, Jobe, Hemir, Jenson – they’re all well above six foot. Hopefully, I won't be marking any strikers this season.”

A lack of physicality was a major factor in Sunderland’s play-off defeat to Luton in May, a setback that continued to rankle with Neil throughout the summer. A new season provides an opportunity to chase new ambition, with promotion a clear and understandable aim given how well the Black Cats performed on their first season back in the Championship last term.

“I think we were all desperate to get back in after the highs of last season and then the Luton game,” said Neil. “It was tough with so many injuries, although we had those all season and towards the end of the season, we still managed to get a lot of results.

“Obviously, the lack of height we had for that specific game wasn't great, but we still feel like we could have come away with a result. We didn't play to our maximum down there, probably, and that hurt because to be part of back-to-back promotions, it would have unbelievable. It hurt and we were all desperate to get back at it this season.”