Neal Ardley has confirmed Notts County have held talks with Sunderland about the possibility of signing some of their young stars on loan.
Tom Sloanes, a non-executive director at the Stadium of Light, recently told the Veterans In Crisis podcast that he was exploring the potential of sending academy players to Meadow Lane to gain first-team experience.
It comes after Sloanes revealed he is friends with Notts owners the Reedtz brothers and he believes there is an opportunity to develop a relationship.
Magpies boss Ardley says they are striving to expand their links with other clubs and has not ruled out moving for one of Sunderland’s players in future.
“As always in football, these things can get blown up out or proportion, but we are always looking to network,” he said.
“You never know, there might be a really good player somewhere who you really want and I am sure Sunderland have a few in their ranks.
“A conversation has happened but it is not something that would lead us to become Sunderland’s B team.
“The discussions was more about were there any players we would run our eye over and see whether they would suit us.
“We’ve said we will look at their good young players. I think we are a big club, with a good fan base, it’s intense place to come and play so I think they would learn a lot by coming here.
“But that could be any club we end up having talks with such as West Brom for example.
“I wouldn’t blow it out of proportion, but at the same time I won’t say we will never ever sign a player from Sunderland because there are a few we’ve looked at before.”
Notts are hoping to strengthen their squad for the last two months of the season as they chase glory in the National League and the FA Trophy.
They are free to sign players until March as the transfer window does not apply to clubs outside of the Football League.
A growing injury list is likely to force Notts to move in the market with goalkeeper Sam Slocombe, defender Ben Turner and left-back Zoumana Bakayogo out for the forseeable future.
Damien McCrory looks to have also suffered a serious knee injury after he limped off in Saturday’s 2-1 win at Yeovil just 70 minutes into his return from a spell on the sidelines.
With a defender likely to be on Ardley’s agenda, a striker may also be inbound after Wes Thomas was set for a three-match ban following his red card at the weekend.
