Sunderland should keep their tabs on Crewe duo Ainley and Kirk

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Over the years, Crewe Alexandra have built up a reputation for producing some fine players from their academy.

Crewe were famous for bringing through England international midfielders Danny Murphy and Seth Johnson in the late 1990s.

And since the turn of the century, some of Crewe’s academy graduates include David Vaughan, Dean Ashton, Nicky Maynard, Ben Marshall, Ashley Westood, Luke Murphy and Nick Powell.

Bigger clubs are always looking at Crewe to see who the next top youngster off the conveyor belt might be.

Peterborough United poached George Cooper from Crewe last January and this could be an area that Sunderland could also look to exploit.

Crewe have a number of academy graduates in their first-team at the moment but the two standout players are arguably Charlie Kirk and Callum Ainley.

Both players are midfielders with an attacking mindset and they signed new deals in the summer.

But Sunderland might be able to convince them to join their project at The Stadium of Light as they strive to get back up the Football League.

Ainley, 21, already has over 120 appearances to his name for Crewe’s senior side.

With 10 goals to his name, including two last weekend, he is likely to be in high demand.

And Kirk is also in good form. The 20-year-old has also scored 10 senior goals for Crewe in 89 first-team appearances.

These are two players who are thriving from playing senior football from a young age and Sunderland should monitor them ahead of a possible double deal.