Another Sunderland player is set to miss his side’s Championship clash with Plymouth Argyle this weekend, according to manager Regis Le Bris.
Sunderland suffer Abdullahi injury blow
The Black Cats are looking to continue their pre-international break form on Saturday afternoon, as they make the trip to lowly Plymouth. Another win would make it five victories in a row for Le Bris’ side, which would further suggest that they are genuine promotion contenders this season.
Ahead of Sunderland‘s long trip to the south west, they have been dealt a blow with the news that summer signing Ahmed Abdullahi will be out for the foreseeable future, potentially even missing as much as three months of action.
Le Bris himself has given an update on the situation, saying: “Ahmed is different because he will have surgery. He will probably have ten to 12 weeks off the pitch. It wasn’t so clear when we signed him. We need an expert to understand exactly what the problem was. Now, we know. The diagnosis is clear and it will be solved after this surgery.”
Sunderland will know the importance of keeping players fit throughout the season, with fitness woes having the potential to derail any campaign, and another individual is now also confirmed to be unavailable for the Plymouth game this weekend.
Sunderland also without Salis Abdul Samed vs Plymouth
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Thursday [via Sunderland AFC News], Le Bris said that new loan signing Salis Abdul Samed also won’t be available for selection for another week or 10 days, despite returning to training. “Salis is now training in the first part of the sessions, and he will be available for selection in eight or ten days.”
It makes sense for Le Bris not to rush Samed into the team too quickly, as he searches for full fitness in training, but it’s still a shame not to have him in contention to feature this weekend, even if it was from the substitutes’ bench.
The 24-year-old has the potential to be an important signing for Sunderland, coming in on a season-long loan deal from Lens, looking to give them an extra spark in midfield. He is a 19-cap Ghana international, which immediately stands out when assessing his pedigree, and he has also made 91 appearances in Ligue 1, showing that he can perform in one of Europe’s big five leagues, while Ghana manager Otto Addo has said of him:
“The way Abdul Salis was running and how he controlled the game was really, really impressive. But all the others did well too. To hold them with ten-men in their half and pin them was a massive thing. We had good possessions; we helped and supported each other in the right timing, especially Abdul Salis.”
Hopefully, Samed’s debut won’t be too far away, perhaps coming at home to Middlesbrough next weekend (Saturday, 12.30pm), should he show enough progress in training in the coming days.
