Michael Beale has provided an update on Corry Evans’ return from injury for Sunderland.
Corry Evans was an ever-present figure in Sunderland’s promotion to the Championship and remained an important asset under Tony Mowbray last season.
However, the midfielder’s campaign was brought to an end in January 2023 when he suffered an ACL injury during the 2-0 win over Middlesbrough.
Evans has now been out of action for over a year, but Michael Beale has already revealed that he has been training with the U21s and is set to pick up some minutes with them before making his first team comeback.
After so long out, Beale has explained when we could expect to see him back in the Championship.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference (via Sunderland Echo), the head coach said: “I think it’s a two-way thing with that, I need to keep talking to him about how he feels.
“He’ll do some sessions with the U21s and naturally, he’ll play a couple of games with the U21s first. Then it’s about his body and how responds to that, when you’re playing small-sided games or have done a lot of training in isolation as he has, it’s fair to say you need to get your logistics again on a bigger pitch and get your lungs burning.
“He’s got to go through that period and it’ll be a two-way process, what our eyes see and what the data says but also how he feels. I wouldn’t want to put a specific timeframe on it but he is definitely going to need a couple of U21 games I think.
“The sooner he can feel comfortable in the U21 session, he’ll jump back in with us.
‘I think that’ll happen over a week or so period. And then look, if we can get him in and around the changing room, having someone like him there… he can be that glue between the information you’re giving and making sure that on the pitch in difficult moments, you’re sticking to the game plan and staying positive. He’s someone who can certainly be that glue, we’ve got other players who are stepping up brilliantly at the moment but you don’t gain experience quickly and Corry certainly has that.”
Can Corry Evans get back to his best?
Corry Evans proved to be a ‘vital’ player in our midfield last season, marshalling a very young squad around him. His absence was definitely noted following his injury, while we have had to heavily rely on Dan Neil and Pierre Ekwah since.
It will be interesting to see how he performs once he returns to the first team, as he will take a long time to get back to his best and is already approaching his 34th birthday.
Even with the arrival of Callum Styles, we are still lacking a player like Evans, so we will have to hope he can still make a positive impact despite his spell on the sidelines.