Le Bris gives injury updates – and praises Sunderland star’s improvement following award | OneFootball

Regis Le Bris gave a fresh injury update on his sidelined players ahead of the game against Leeds.

Jocelin Ta Bi joined Sunderland in January from Maccabi Netanya, but has only played once in the Premier League under Le Bris due to an ankle issue.

Meanwhile, Romaine Mundle was brought off early in Sunderland’s loss to Fulham prior to their recent draw with Bournemouth with a hamstring injury.

They are not the only injuries that Le Bris has had to contend with of late. Reinildo has missed their last two matches with a knee injury, and Brian Brobbey and Nordi Mukiele are also sidelined.

They are set to return quicker than Mundle and Ta Bi, however, who will be out longer term.

“Nothing new to report at the minute,” Le Bris said when asked for the latest team news. “Which is good because against Fulham it was probably the worst experience we had this season so far.

“We still have one or two minor doubts, it’s normal with a quick turnaround between two fixtures, we’ll probably make decisions late, but at the minute they are OK.

“The injured players have to recover, depending on the injuries. For Romaine, we know it will be long, but it’s important to recover properly. We support him.

“That will be the case for Jocelin as well. For the others, it’s a question of a week, two weeks, three weeks, depending on their situations.”

Dan Ballard won the North East Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year award this weekend and Le Bris was full of praise for the centre half.

“I think the event was really well organised and it’s good for the north-east to celebrate important people for football and for the community,” he said.

“For Dan, obviously it’s the first time I’m seeing you since the news of his new contract breaking, that’s wonderful news for him and wonderful news for the club as well, bearing in mind how well he’s developed.

“This position as a centre-back is an important one in the squad and he showed last season and this season that he was able to step up. You never know and you have to experience a new level and he showed so far that he’s a great centre-back.

“You have to face often long balls, strong physicality in that area of the pitch and he’s really good at that. Also, we can feel that he’s growing as a player, improving different areas with the ball, for example, and about his leadership as well.”