Injury scare for Sunderland midfielder after pulling out of international duty

Sunderland midfielder Wahbi Khazri will remain on Wearside during the two-week international break after pulling out of the Tunisia squad with injury.

By The Newsroom

Published 22nd Mar 2016, 12:23 BST

Updated 22nd Mar 2016, 12:42 BST

Khazri had originally been named in the Tunisia squad to face back-to-back African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Togo, which take place on Friday and next Tuesday.

But the £9million January signing sustained an injury in last weekend’s Tyne-Wear derby and has withdrawn from the Tunisia squad.

The midfielder will instead spend the break at the Academy of Light with Sunderland’s medical team.

Khazri’s withdrawal leaves Sam Allardyce sweating over just six members of Sunderland’s first-team squad, who are away representing their countries.

Seb Larsson (Sweden), John O’Shea (Ireland) and Patrick van Aanholt (Holland) all face international friendlies, while Lamine Kone (Ivory Coast) is involved in African Cup of Nations qualifiers, Jordan Pickford (England U21) faces European Championship qualifiers and DeAndre Yedlin (USA) faces World Cup qualifiers against Guatemala.