Let’s be honest, lads and lasses: being a Sunderland fan means your eyes are glued to more than just the first team sheet on a Saturday afternoon.

With the club’s focus on cultivating top-tier young talent at the Academy of Light, keeping tabs on our rising stars and squad players out on loan has become a full-time job.

Whether they’re grinding out gritty, character-building performances in non-league, getting precious minutes in the Championship, or testing themselves abroad, their development is the blueprint for our future success.

That’s why we’re launching Loan Watch, your brand new, definitive weekly breakdown of how our on-loan Black Cats are faring away from Wearside.

Every week, we’ll be doing the heavy lifting so you don’t have to track obscure Twitter accounts or scroll through lower-league stat apps late at night or over your morning coffee.

Here’s what we’ll give you:

• The hard facts: Minutes played, goals, assists, clean sheets and all the other underlying metrics

• Local lowdown: What are the local press, opposition managers and fans actually saying about our players? Are they a vital cog in the wheel or are they finding life tough on the road?

• The Wearside Projection: An honest assessment of what their current form means for their long-term future under Régis Le Bris. Are they playing their way into a first team shirt for next season?

From our highly-rated academy prospects looking to make their mark to senior lads getting sharp, no loanee will be left off the radar.

In profile: Milan Aleksić

This weekend, Aleksić made his long-awaited debut for Serbian top-flight club Partizan Belgrade, where he spent many years in his youth.