Aji Alese explains Sunderland comeback, his conversation with Mike Dodds and Bristol City appearance

Aji Alese says he felt ready to make his first-team comeback after playing 90 minutes for Sunderland’s under-21s side.

The 23-year-old defender has been sidelined since January after suffering a recurrence of his quad injury, which required surgery last summer. Alese came off the bench during the Black Cats’ goalless draw against Bristol City, three days after starting for the under-21s side against Huddersfield.

“I love playing football and every time I step on the pitch is a good feeling so I’m happy to be back out there,” said Alese after the Bristol City match. “No matter how small the injury, it always feels like it’s a step back and it’s a journey to get back. I was out for just over two months so it has been a journey but I’m happy to be back now.”

Alese had a lengthy conversation with Sunderland’s interim boss Mike Dodds last week, after the defender was left out of the first-team squad for Monday’s match against Blackburn.

“He kind of just said he didn’t want to put me into a first-team game until I’d had an extended period of time for the 21s,” said Alese when asked about his conversation with Dodds. “Obviously we played Blackburn on Monday so he said he’d leave me out for that and I’d get 90 minutes on Wednesday for the 21s. I got through that fine and was able to get on today.

“The last time I came back I only got 45 minutes for the 21s before I started a first-team game. Being able to get through and get all the metrics, physical data was good to give me that confidence to go into today and hopefully push on from there.”