Sunderland boss confirms Eliezer Mayenda plan with exciting update

Tony Mowbray says that Eliezer Mayenda could make his Sunderland debut against Birmingham City this weekend.

The striker will be a limited to a cameo role if he does feature, and is set to feature in a behind-closed-doors game next week as he bids to build his match fitness.

Mayenda has not been able to feature since signing from Sochaux in the summer due to a hamstring problem, but is now closing in on a debut after a fortnight of training fully with his new team mates.

"I think there's every chance he'll be on the bench this weekend," Mowbray said.

"It'll be a cameo role if he does come on, he's still only played one ninety minutes against Hibernian behind closed doors. He hasn't played much so we'll have to be careful. He's going to play in a bounce game next Wednesday, he'll play in that regardless of whether he gets minutes this weekend because we need to get him playing.

"He's training really well, he's a lovely guy who wants to ask questions and get better - and he keeps hitting the back of the net in the training.

"As coaching staff we're looking forward to seeing him out there but what we don't know is how quickly he'll get up to the intensity of the Championship. It's OK playing in training games but it's also about how you cope with me screaming at him to get back and chase the opposition full back! He has to be able to do that as well.

"But he's very talented, and he's got a wand of a left foot with real power in it. He's very dynamic, quick, fast. There's nothing stopping him being a really good player and hopefully he can put that onto the pitch at first-team level."

Mowbray is unlikely to make many changes to his squad with the injury situation otherwise unchanged from recent weeks.

The head coach does have a major decision to make in defence, with both Dan Ballard and Luke O'Nien suspended.