LATEST NEWS:The most recent injury updates for the Sunderland team, including the anticipated return dates of Callum Styles and Aji Alese

Dack should therefore be back in the next couple of weeks, though as of last week he had not rejoined training. The attacking midfielder should be in contention before the end of the month.

Potential return date: Swansea City (H) February 24th

AJI ALESE

Alese made a strong comeback to action on New Year’s Day, but he had a setback later in the month—possibly unavoidable considering how little football he had played the year before. Beale stated over the weekend that he was optimistic the defender will return around the time Sunderland travels to Southampton, after confirming that he would be out for almost a month.

Styles should be able to return gradually for Sunderland since he should be fit by then and Leo Hjelde will be in the team.

March 9th is a possible return date for Southampton (A).

DENNIS CIRKIN

Having suffered from hamstring strains, Cirkin underwent surgery last month in an attempt to permanently resolve the issue, which required three months of recovery time. There is a great deal of uncertainty regarding his ability to contribute significantly to the remainder of the Championship season, even if he is expected to return to training in April. In the event that Sunderland advances to the play-offs, he could be prepared to contribute significantly to those games.

In order to make sure that one of their finest young players is back and prepared to contribute significantly, Sunderland will want to take their time with him.

Possible return date: May 4th, Wednesday (H) in Sheffield

ELLIOT EMBLETON

A serious thigh injury ended Embleton’s loan at Derby County just as he was starting to show signs of recovery from a fractured leg he sustained late in 2022. Beale stated last week that Embleton was back in the gym, which means he should be able to make a comeback and contribute to the play-off push.

Although Beale does not have an exact timeline for his comeback, he believes it will not be too long.

CORRY EVANS

Evans is back running and doing individual work following his ACL injury last January, but is not back training with his team mates and so a return os not imminent. At this stage, it’s unclear how much of a part he will play this season if at all.

NIALL HUGGINS

Huggins isn’t anticipated to play again until 2025 after suffering a serious knee ligament damage in Michael Beale’s debut game.

OTHER PRODUCTS?
After spending an entire week working with his new teammates, Romaine Mundle could play for Plymouth at some point. Chris Rigg, who played 90 minutes in Friday night’s FA Youth Cup loss to Swindon Town, is also expected to rejoin the team. Rigg was injured at Middlesbrough and missed the match.

With Dan Ballard having received one yellow card and Luke O’Nien two games away from a two-game suspension, Sunderland may have some suspension concerns in the coming weeks. Given that March is the deadline, it appears likely that Jenson Seelt will be needed at some point. Trai Hume has the second-highest number of yellows, but with just six, he should be able to make the cutoff without any problems.