Sunderland have parted company with scout Janne Wilkman just five months after he was appointed to search for talent in Scandinavia.

The 40-year-old Finn joined the Black Cats as part of a £500,000 investment in the club's scouting system that had been trailed by owner Stewart Donald at a fans' forum last year, and that he later confirmed in an interview with BBC Radio Newcastle's Total Sport, saying: "Not much was made of it, but in my last fans' talk-in I said we were going to invest £500,000 on new scouts - going into Scandanavia, Germany, Ireland and the UK."

In November reports in Finland revealed that Wilkman had left his job as manager of Mikkelin Palloilijat, where he had led the club to promotion to the second tier, to take up the new role with Sunderland starting in January.

But with the Covid-19 pandemic shutting down football in England and across most of Europe since March, Sunderland have furloughed their players and all but a handful of staff.

And for Wilkman the situation is worse, with the crisis costing him his job with the Black Cats earlier this month.

"When the coronavirus crisis began, I initially worked from home," he told Transfermarkt.

"But then, unfortunately, it was the reason why it [his job] ended after such a short time.

"I hope that this uncertain time will pass as quickly as possible and that football will come back stronger."

Wilkman had previously spent six years scouting for Aston Villa, including in Scandinavia, and he was given a similar brief at Sunderland.

He said: "I was responsible for the Scandinavian region and planned scouting activities for this area.

"The work was very similar to my time at Aston Villa, where I had worked in various functions for over six years.

"As a result, I already knew the Scandinavian market very well, which helped me a lot in my new role at Sunderland."

Sunderland's profile has been raised in Scandinavia and worldwide due to the Netflix series Sunderland 'Til I Die, but Wilkman says he has yet to watch the fly-on-the-wall documentary.

“People often ask me about it when they hear I was at Sunderland," he said.

"I didn't have time to watch the series yet, [I was] rather concentrated on developing the club."

Wilkman is now unemployed but hopes that football will soon be up and running again, and he will be back in work again.

He said: "I've worked every day to be ready when it all gets started again.

"But now the most important thing is to be with my family and make sure that everyone is safe and healthy in these difficult times.

"Then we'll see what the future brings."