Chemsdine Talbi picked up his first minutes in the Premier League since the opening-day defeat to Ipswich Town on Sunday

Régis Le Bris said his decision to introduce Chemsdine Talbi in the closing stages of Sunderland's draw with Leeds United showed the winger has a big part to play moving forward.

Talbi's lack of Premier League minutes has been one of the major talking points on Wearside in recent weeks, with the Moroccan not brought off the bench against either Brighton or Bournemouth despite the team's struggles going forward.

Talbi was introduced alongside Habib Diarra as Sunderland pushed for a winner at the Stadium of Light, and afterwards the head coach was asked directly about the 21-year-old's lack of minutes. Le Bris said there had been no falling out behind the scenes and that it had been a challenging period following the club's decision not to register Talbi in their Europa League league phase squad as transfer talks with clubs in Turkey and Saudi Arabia were at that point still ongoing. Had Talbi departed, Sunderland would not have been able to replace him in their squad.

“It probably started with the UEFA list," Le Bris said.

"It is a shame because this list is so restrictive. You can’t use all of your players, even though that competition could have been really positive for him [Talbi] and for others as well. It would have been good for him to get minutes in this competition. After that, we started with two wingers, we started with Nilson and Malick, and we trust them, even though sometimes they are struggling. I am sure Chemsdine will get his opportunities as well. It was a strong choice to give him the opportunity [against Leeds] in a tight game, really intense. He can help us, and that is going to be the case in the future.”

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The output of Sunderland's wingers has been a subject of fierce debate on Wearside this season, and Le Bris says it is natural that the young players the club have recruited will have ups and downs.

“Probably in the past, Sunderland have had many focuses on different positions," he said.

"We had all the talk about the striker, now we have good strikers and the pressure is on the wingers. They are really young, and if you look at the Premier League, it’s hard to find a winger who is dominant over the whole of the season. We think we have good wingers with good potential. They will have ups and down, but when they are down, it is important to support them and believe in their qualities. That is the case. We know we have good wingers – I think you saw a good version of Nilson Angulo [against Leeds] and maybe three or four weeks ago, that wasn’t maybe the case. It is a question of support – for Chems and Malick, that is going to be the case."

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