Jack Ross believes Luke O'Nien is well-suited to the wingback role in his new 3-4-3 system - but has been careful not to rule out playing him in his natural midfield position.
O'Nien was signed last summer as a midfielder but struggled to hold down a place in the side until he was used at right-back, where he impressed in the second half of the campaign to the extent that he was voted Young Player of the Year by supporters.
Despite his performances in defence, there were calls from some fans for O'Nien to be played in midfield but Ross largely resisted that pressure.
In pre-season, Ross has used a different formation which would see O'Nien play as a right wingback and he says the 24-year-old has proved he can play in that position.
It does not mean O'Nien will not play in midfield at any stage, but the Black Cats have plenty of other options in the middle of the park.
Asked where he sees O'Nien fitting in this season, Ross said: "I've never really pigeonholed him but I think if you spoke to Luke himself, he'd recognise the progress he's made in that [defensive] position.
"It did puzzle me last year when there was the clamour for him to play in a position different to the one that he was young player of the year in.
"In that area of the pitch [central midfield] we've got a lot of good players.
"It's not ruling him out playing there, we'll tweak things as we go but certainly, the attributes you need to play [at wingback] and what we've worked on in pre-season, it very much suits him.
"It's just pleasing how much he's grown as a player in the 12 months he's been here as well, I think he'll admit that he's come on more than he would have imagined in a relatively short period of time."
