Sunderland writer Jason Jones names Cat who will be 'knocking on door' when he returns from long-term absence

Sunderland head into Saturday afternoon’s Championship clash with Millwall facing real questions marks over the fitness of first choice full-back pairing Dennis Cirkin and Trai Hume.

Both players dropped out of their respective international squads over the past week, with no concrete indication at this stage as to how severe their injury concerns may be. There is, however, a version of events in which Regis Le Bris is forced to name a heavily-altered back line against the Lions this weekend, and to that end the Frenchman is hardly resplendent with options at the back.

Alongside the potential absences of Cirkin and Hume, Sunderland are set to be without Dan Ballard and Aji Alese, while Niall Huggins - arguably the most natural replacement for either Cirkin or Hume - is still recovering from a long-term knee problem.

And in the latest episode of The Roar podcast, The Echo’s SAFC writers, James Copley and Jason Jones, have been discussing the Welshman’s role in Le Bris’ squad, and how much of a boost his eventual return could offer the Black Cats further down the line.

What has been said about Sunderland defender Niall Huggins?

During a preview of this weekend’s clash with Millwall, a viewer commented asking about Huggins’ ongoing absence, to which Jason responded: “The situation with Niall Huggins is that he's just injured. And it's a real shame because it sort of hits on a key issue, which is that if you have Niall Huggins to call on, Sunderland do have a wonderful deputy to Trai Hume because he was so good prior to his injury last season.”

James replied: “He's a player I really, really like, and it's such a shame that we're not going to see him. You know, the same with Alese as well - players that I really, really like and could definitely improve Sunderland's starting XI and the versatility in the squad. But it's just a shame that he picked up that injury, and I don't think we're going to see him until pre-season at the least. Maybe even a bit longer.

“It's a shame for him as well because I remember Phil Smith, our colleague at the Echo, he spoke to Huggins during the summer under [Tony] Mowbray where he was just sort of coming back to fitness after another long injury lay-off, and he was really buzzing to be back. People forget how young these lads are as well and how much it affects them when they get injured. To see him hit the heights in a Sunderland shirt where he scored that wonderful goal [against Watford], and suddenly everybody was talking about him as maybe Sunderland's best full-back, talent-wise, and then to get injured again is gutting because he's a really, really nice lad and a good player as well to boot.”

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Jason continued: “I think the one thing you would say about him as well is that despite the fact that he's been sidelined for so long, Sunderland have seen fit to hand him a contract extension [in October]. Obviously in one sense, what that does is take the pressure off his recovery and it allows him the time to properly get himself back to full fitness without the concern of potentially being out of contract and having to find a new club, whatever it may be, but more importantly, I think it is a signifier of how much faith they have in him.

“I think that there is a belief that if they can get him back to the levels that he was showing prior to the injury, they have got a real player on their hands there. I think when Huggins is back - and like you say, he's probably going to be quite a while - I don't see any reason why he can't actually be knocking on the door to maybe try and displace somebody - whether it be a Cirkin, whether it be a Hume. Because like you say, when he was fit and firing, he was performing at a level that would suggest he has the talent to be a first team player for us.”

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