
Régis Le Bris issues Chris Rigg injury update and outlines Sunderland’s next transfer steps…
Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris has been speaking after Sunderland’s first pre-season friendly
Regis Le Bris says Sunderland still have a lot of work to do in the transfer market and admits that strengthening the defensive positions has become a priority.
Sunderland returned to action with a 4-0 win over South Shields on Saturday afternoon, and head out to Portugal for their pre-season camp next week. The club confirmed on Friday that Luke O’Nien, Aji Alese, Dennis Cirkin and Leo Hjelde would all miss the start of the Premier League campaign with injuries, and a number of players had to operate out of position on Saturday.
Reinildo Mandava will soon join the group to add much-needed defensive depth but more is needed in the weeks ahead. It has nevertheless been a strong start to the window for the Black Cats with their squad coming together. Habib Diarra made his debut at South Shields and a number of new arrivals will join him in Portugal.
Le Bris said: “Yes [we need to sign defenders]. Short answer!”
“We’re a work in progress,” he added.
“It’s obvious that the next step is going to be massive and so we need to reinforce the squad. Only one played today [Habib Diarra] but in the next few weeks we are going to add the others. We need to build this connection on the pitch and their physical condition as well. It’s good to get players in early, it’s always better. Ultimately the market decides, we always want the full squad [on day one] but it’s never like that. So we’ll see how it develops in the coming weeks.
“It’s still a little difficult to know exactly what we will do [signing more players] because every day we are learning a little more about the players that we have. We are getting more information after every session, every game. So we’ll see. We’re adapting all the time. ”
Regis Le Bris issues Chris Rigg injury update
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Le Bris also confirmed that Chris Rigg has recovered from the ankle injury that ruled him out of the U19 European Championships this summer.
Rigg did not feature on Saturday but Le Bris confirmed that he would join full training with his team mates in Portugal next week.
Le Bris said: “Chris picked up an ankle injury with the national team, which delayed his restart with the squad. So today was just too early for him. But there is no issue now, he will start working with the team in Portugal.”
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