BERTRAND TRAORE has returned from AFCON with an injury problem - but Regis Le Bris has played down the seriousness of the problem that forced off Brian Brobbey in Sunderland's FA Cup win at Everton.
While Noah Sadiki played the full 120 minutes of Sunderland’s third-round victory at the Hill Dickinson Stadium just a matter of days after returning from AFCON duty with DR Congo, neither Mozambique’s Reinildo Mandava nor Burkina Faso’s Traore were named in Le Bris’ squad despite also having returned from Morocco.
Reinildo is set to return to full training at the Academy of Light this week and should be available for Sunderland’s return to Premier League duty against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
However, Traore is struggling with an injury issue that will be fully assessed by Sunderland’s medical staff at the start of next week. The winger played the final 19 minutes of Burkina Faso’s 3-0 defeat to Ivory Coast in the last-16 of AFCON on Tuesday and is understood to have suffered a problem in the closing stages of the game.
“With Reinildo and Bertrand, we will see,” said Le Bris. “Rei might be available next week, but Bertrand has come back with an injury that we will have to assess.
“It is an injury issue he has come back with, but we don’t really know any more than that yet.”
There were also fears Brobbey had suffered a significant problem after he was substituted as a substitute against Everton.
The striker failed to reappear for the second half of extra-time, having come onto the field as a replacement for Eliezer Mayenda in the second half of normal time, but while he was feeling a tightness in his hamstrings, Le Bris is not too concerned by the problem.
“We are not too worried about Brian because it was tightness in his hamstrings,” said the Sunderland boss. “We have had this previously with him, so we didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.”
Sunderland’s progress to the FA Cup fourth round was secured thanks to a penalty shootout that saw the Black Cats score all three of their spot-kicks while Everton failed to convert a single one of theirs.
Robin Roefs saved from James Garner, Thierno Barry and Beto, further burnishing the glowing reputation he has developed since joining Sunderland from NEC Nijmegen in the summer.
“He is getting better and better,” said Le Bris. “He is still young and he wants to learn, so when you give him opportunities to play at this level, he will grow quickly.
“I think it is only the beginning for him. He will have ups and downs, which is normal, but he is really consistent in what he does. He obviously helped the team massively in the penalty shootout.”
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