The Sunderland and Leeds United team news explained ahead of pre-season clash in New Jersey
Sunderland face a tough pre-season test when they take on Daniel Farke’s Leeds United
Sunderland are back in action on Friday (12.30am BST) as they face Leeds United in the second game of their US tour in New Jersey.
The Premier League rivals will step up their preparations for the new campaign in what should be a good contest with plenty of intrigue for fans of both sides. Here’s the team news as we have it from both camps..
The Sunderland team news
Sunderland will field a similar starting XI to that which faced York City and Liverpool, with Régis Le Bris likely to increase the playing time for many of those players to 60 minutes. A number of academy players will then get another opportunity to shine, but Le Bris will also welcome back the World Cup players knocked out in the round of 32 who had a longer break. Simon Adingra, Robin Roefs, Brian Brobbey, Nilson Angulo, Noah Sadiki and Habib Diarra should all therefore get around half an hour under their belt, though Arthur Masuaku has not linked up with the squad as he prepares ot move on this summer. Granit Xhaka, Omar Alderete, Thomas Meunier and Chemsdine Talbi were all given a longer break following their World Cup involvement and will join their team mates back in Sunderland next week.
Jocelin Ta Bi will remain absent for this game and most likely the final game of the tour against Wrexham, with Le Bris confirming that his visa situation remains unresolved as the team fly to New Jersey.
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The Leeds United team news
One considerable source of intrigue in the game is whether Tarik Muharemović features. Muharemović had of course been a potential summer target for the Black Cats before Leeds United made a decisive move to sign him from Serie A side Sassuolo, having sold Pascal Struijk to Brighton & Hove Albion not long before. Muharemović is with the Leeds United squad in the US but did not feature in the opening game of their tour against Wrexham. Sunderland fans will be taking a close look if he does feature here.
Also missing from Leeds United's squad for that Wrexham game were senior trio Jaka Bijol, Sebastiaan Bornauw and Dominic Calvert-Lewin due to injury concerns. It is not yet clear whether they will be back to face Sunderland but one definite absentee is winger Noah Okafor following his involvement with Switzerland. Brenden Aaronson and Gabi Gudmundsson also missed the Wrexham game following their World Cup commitments but haven't been ruled out of this one, while Ilia Gruev is with the team in the US but still recovering from a knee injury so may well miss out on this one.
Head coach Daniel Farke named different XIs for each half against Wrexham, opting or a mix of senior and youth players. Goalkeeper James Trafford is expected to join in the coming days in a major coup for the club, but the deal is not yet finalised and so he won’t be involved here.