Sunderland made Jocelin Ta Bi their first signing of the January window earlier this week

Régis Le Bris has confirmed that Sunderland’s new signing Jocelin Ta Bi needs time to reach full fitness after an ankle injury, but says it is not a serious issue.

Ta Bi joined the Black Cats earlier this week for a fee believed to be in the region of £3.5 million. Celtic had at one stage been advancing with a move for the Ivory Coast winger, with reports in Scotland saying the winger could need surgery.

Le Bris said surgery was not required and that the 20-year-old would be fit before too long.

“We'll have to manage his ankle,” Le Bris said.

‘It was not too serious but we'll have to wait two or three weeks to build his fitness.

Ta Bi is seen as a long-term signing for the club having impressed in the Israeli League through the first half of the season, with sporting director Kristjaan Speakman stating that he would be ‘integrated patiently’. The winger will be given a chance to impress in training, though, with Le Bris saying he has some ‘rare’ attributes that can benefit the club in the long run.

“He's a young winger with a specific profile,” Le Bris said of Ta Bi.

“It's rare in this industry to find this explosiveness and skills to dribble and to have this courage and personality in one vs ones. He has this quality. Now we have to build his profile to get ready for the Premier League.

“You never know [how long it will take him to be ready]. Sometimes they can step up really quickly, but this is the identity of our club. We can't buy a full squad of experienced players like Granit or Nordi. We also have to build with young lads and give them opportunities and support them. I hope they will be strong players for us.”

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What Régis Le Bris said about Sunderland’s comeback win against Crystal Palace

“Yeah, I think especially during the second half [we deserved it],” Le Bris said.

“They started better than us, I think, created a couple of chances, found solutions to escape their hard pressure sometimes. They went long to Mateta, to Devenny for flick ons, directly in behind, so we struggled a bit in this part of the game. And progressively, I think we found solutions to solve those problems.

“We changed a few details at half time. I think we kept our midfielders a bit more connected in the middle, rather than overloading the sides. I think it helped for the build-up and the balance after the turnover. And I think progressively, we imposed our intentions, which is a good sign because it was a question of maturity and consistency today.”

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