'By the sounds of it...' - Sunderland writer Phil Smith on Salis Abdul Samed return date after injury setback
The Sunderland midfielder has been hit with another injury setback
It is probably fair to suggest that this season has, thus far, not gone to plan for Sunderland loanee Salis Abdul Samed.
The midfielder was brought in on a temporary agreement during the summer transfer window, but has been largely sidelined due to injury, and at the time of writing, has been limited to just 160 minutes of Championship football spread across two starts and a further four substitute appearances.
And in an untimely and unwelcome setback, Samed now finds himself on the treatment table once again. The Ghanaian was a surprise omission from Regis Le Bris’ match day squad for Sunderland’s 2-1 victory over Cardiff City on Saturday afternoon, and in his post-match press conference, the Black Cats head coach explained that his player had sustained a calf complaint.
But how bad is Samed’s latest fitness issue, and when can Sunderland fans expect to see him back in action?
When will Salis Abdul Samed return for Sunderland?
Speaking during his post-match On The Whistle summary of Saturday’s match, The Echo’s chief Sunderland writer Phil Smith explained: “Salis Abdul Samed was obviously a surprise absentee from the squad. I asked Regis Le Bris about this in his press conference afterwards and he said that Samed has picked up a calf injury.
“It's not a season-ending one... I think by the sounds of it, it'll be about three or four weeks. So Sunderland are hopeful that he might be able to come back after the international break, which is obviously the same kind of timescale as Enzo Le Fée at the moment.
“So it's not a major injury, but I think the problem is that the challenge for Samed is that if he comes back after the international break, he then again has to try and rebuild his sharpness. He then has to again rebuild his match minutes and with the way the players and the team are performing at the moment, that's obviously going to be quite difficult for him. Although it's not the biggest injury in the world, it is obviously a fairly significant setback because time for him to build his match fitness is really, really running out.
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“So that is a real disappointment because I think ideally, at some point, Le Bris, if possible, would probably like to give Dan Neil or Jobe a breather ahead of a potential play-off campaign, just because of the sheer number of minutes they're playing.
“Hopefully, he will be able to do that towards the back end of the season if Samed does get back after the international break and gets to build some sharpness. But yeah, at the moment, it's another frustration really in what has been a really frustrating season.”