'Very close': Régis Le Bris delivers interesting verdict on Milan Aleksić's progress at Sunderland

Régis Le Bris says that Milan Aleksić is closer than ever to making his Sunderland debut.

The Serbian midfielder, who joined the club for a seven-figure fee in the summer, is yet to make a competitive appearance for the Black Cats. Le Bris has previously put that down to not wanting to expose the 19-year-old to Championship too early, particularly as gets to grips with a new language of which he had little prior knowledge.

Opportunity could knock this weekend, however, with the club’s midfield options severely limited by injury to Alan Browne and Jobe Bellingham’s ongoing suspension. Le Bris has hinted that it might be too soon for Aleksić to come straight into the starting XI but says he can be reassured by Tommy Watson’s more prominent role in recent weeks, with the winger having to be patient for his opportunity over the first couple of months of the campaign.

“It is the case, yes [in contention],” Le Bris said.

“He is still only a young player and we have spoken about this before. Sometimes you are waiting for the right opportunity and it was like this for Tommy Watson, who had to wait for six, seven or eight weeks and now he is there. He has started, probably will start again. He has got minutes, experience, confidence. It will be like this for Milan. He is a talented player, for sure.

“He has a high competition in his position with Riggy, Browney, Jobe. He has to wait because this is what competition is like. He is working hard. I don't know if it will happen this weekend, we will see, but he is very close.”

Le Bris has also confirmed that Adil Aouchiche and Abdoullah Ba will likely be included in the squad for the trip to Millwall.