Sunderland players have jetted away on international duty this month. But there’s fresh concerns about defender Trai Hume.
There are several Sunderland players on international duty right now, including the likes of Chris Mepham for Wales, Chris Rigg for England U19s and Eliezer Mayenda making his debut for the Sprain U21s.
But a lot of the talk has been about Jobe Bellingham. The 19-year-old continues to shine on both the club and international stage with Bellingham impressing for the Young Lions this week.
And it’s led to more talk about his future at the Stadium of Light with Manchester United heavily linked with Bellingham ahead of the summer transfer window, though recent reports insist a move is nowhere near at an advanced stage.
Elsewhere there’s been a lot of talk about Trai Hume. The Sunderland defender missed Norther Ireland’s game against Sweden through injury after manager Michael O’Neill revealed that Hume was carrying a hip injury and that he’d not really been properly training with Sunderland.
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Trai Hume injury boost, but Michael O’Neill comments may have angered Sunderland
Speaking on Total Sport, BBC pundit Nick Barnes has assured fans that Hume will likely be in contention to feature against Millwall in Saturday and that Hume’s absence against Sweden was likely a precaution taken by Sunderland officials.
Barnes explained: “He’s not in the squad. Slight hip injury. The bottom line is; the club let him go, I don’t think there’ll be a real issue with Hume returning and being involved against Millwall… I think he’ll be fine.”
Barnes went on to add: “I think the fact they allowed Hume to travel means that they were not overly concerned about the injury, but they were concerned that they didn’t want him playing two games, so he’s not involved at all tonight having played on Friday.”
But Barnes then suggested that O’Neill’s revelation about Hume’s injury, and the type of injury, might have angered Sunderland officials. When posed the question, Barnes said: “Probably… Probably more because it signals to the opposition exactly what the problem is with a player and will other teams then target the player in that particular area. We’ve seen that before.”
Early Sunderland team news ahead of Millwall
Sunderland have welcomed back some key players from injury in the last few weeks including Tommy Watson, Romaine Mundle, and Alan Browne.
But Regis Le Bris still has some key names missing including Enzo Le Fee and Dan Ballard. Aji Alese and Niall Huggins remain longer-term absentee for the Black Cats too.
Possibly along with Hume, Sunderland could be without Ahmed Abdullahi, Ian Poveda, Leo Hjelde and Jayden Danns for the visit of Alex Neil’s Millwall on Saturday.
With Hjelde already sidelined, missing Hume on Saturday could be a real headache for Le Bris, who’s certainly struggling on the injury front right now.