Sunderland fans will be gutted to hear that Tommy Watson is now unavailable for the next two months, and Regis Le Bris will now need to find someone to take the youngster’s place.
Over the last couple of weeks it had seemed that Sunderland had found a new hero in young Tommy Watson, and his performance against Stoke City last weekend all but confirmed it.
The 18-year-old had replaced the injured Romaine Mundle, who has been a big miss for Sunderland. But now, Watson himself will need replacing, too, after Regis Le Bris revealed the injury status of his wonderkid.
The winger was forced off before the half-hour mark against Bristol City in midweek, and Le Bris stated Watson will now miss around two months due to his ‘unlucky’ injury.
Regis Le Bris may look at young players to replace Tommy Watson
In his latest press conference (via Sunderland’s YouTube channel), Le Bris was asked what his plan is to replace Watson over the next couple of months.
While Le Bris didn’t name any particular player, it seems the Sunderland manager could turn his attention to the club’s academy in search of more hot prospects who may be ready to step up to the senior team.
He said: “We’ll find a solution. We don’t have a choice. Because we have many young players, we know that we can discover many things. We’ll have to find new solutions. We’ll see for Swansea.”
Who knows, perhaps Sunderland can unearth yet another incredible wonderkid from their academy before the season is over?
In the more immediate future, though, Le Bris also has the option to play someone like Wilson Isidor out wide, or hand a big opportunity to fringe players like Adil Aouchiche or Jewison Bennette.
- READ MORE: Regis Le Bris says Sunderland star is ‘an example’ for his teammates after Bristol City clash
Sunderland’s January plans have to include a new winger
For our money, it would make most sense to go for the combination of Patrick Roberts and Eliezer Mayenda on the wings, at least for the Swansea game.
The pair have looked good out wide in the last two matches, and that would appear to be the most natural and ready-made plan for now.
However, longer term, this little injury crisis has made it obvious that Sunderland will need to dip into the transfer market in January and try to bring in a wide player of some sort.
The prospect of Jack Clarke returning to Sunderland is something we cannot ignore, while the likes of Omari Kellyman at Chelsea could be a great loan signing for Sunderland.
Let’s just hope Tommy Watson’s absence is not felt too hard over these next few weeks.