Sunderland boss explains Jewison Bennette absence amid transfer situation and delivers Eliaz Lenz update
The duo were absent as Sunderland U21s took on Benfica B at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday evening
Sunderland under-21 boss Graeme Murty has explained the absences of Jewison Bennette and Elias Lenz from his squad.
The duo were notable absentees as the Black Cats defeated a strong Benfica B team at the Stadium of Light in the Premier League International Cup on Wednesday night. Bennette’s situation this January continues to be up in the air with the Costa Rica international nowhere near Régis Le Bris’ first team.
However, despite the ongoing transfer situation, Murty revealed after the game that both Bennette and German midfielder Lenz are suffering from fitness and injury issues.
“Yes, unfortunately. Eli's (Lenz) just had a bit of a challenge in terms of his injury status,” Murty told The Echo on Wednesday night. “So he gets to a certain level and then, unfortunately, it's not a muscular thing. It has been an impact. So it's been an incident rather than a pull.
“And Jewi is just having a little issue physically to keep his condition. So he's nothing serious, but obviously not in a fit enough state to go and compete. He's ahead of Eli, but not quite ready at the moment,” Murty added after the game against Benfica B.
Murty also spoke at length about injured Sunderland striker Jake Waters, who was sidelined with another severe ligament issue earlier this season having only just returned from a long injury lay-off with a similar issue during the 2023-24 campaign.
“I think that he's had a massively challenging time as we talked about with Jenson earlier,” Murty said. “He's had wonderful support from the staff around him. I have to really compliment our medical and support staff in the way they've taken care of him. “Also kept his family informed as to the steps he's going to go through and Jake is in a brilliant environment. So we have to make sure we support him as well as we can and give him every single day what he needs. And it will be a process.
“It'll be a time before he's back. But I think the level of care, the level of consideration he's getting is second to none. So for him, we're gutted for him that he's injured, but I don't think there are a more invested group of staff in making sure that he gets the right amount of care to get him back as well as we possibly can.”
On the game against Benfica B, Murty added: “I thought that they showed some really, really good bits, where we could have been a bit more ruthless and taken some more of our chances. I think it wouldn't have been too much of a stretch to say that we could have extended our lead on numerous occasions.
“They need to understand that when the game is tough and it's challenging, we want to put them in front of opposition that's going to punish them, and I thought that Benfica approached the game properly. That's their B team that they play in second league with, that really gave us a test.”