The Sunderland AFC players likely to leave in two months time | OneFootball

Regis Le Bris could see some of his players depart the club in the new year.

Sunderland's squad feels very thin at the moment because of all the injury and suspension issues that they are currently dealing with.

Excluding players that are working their way back from long-term injuries and are not going to be available for some time, five potential starters won't be available for the Black Cats until at least 26th November.

Alan Browne and Romaine Mundle both picked up injuries against Coventry City in Sunderland's final game before the November international break.

Two of their other absentees - Trai Hume and Patrick Roberts - picked up their fifth yellow cards of the season, ruling them out of the Millwall match. Jobe Bellingham will also be unavailable until Sunderland face West Bromwich Albion on the 26th.

There are always going to be fitness and suspension issues that you have to deal with, which is why strong squad depth is required. However, clubs like Sunderland do have some players that aren't being used at all, and could easily be moved on when the January transfer window arrives.

Nazariy Rusyn

It was always going to be tough for Nazariy Rusyn to get settled in on Wearside. The Ukranian striker left his home country last summer to join Sunderland in the middle of its war against Russia. Combine that with a new language and league to get used to and you're asking a lot of anyone to succeed in that type of situation.

Rusyn had much more involvement in the first-team last season. He notched a couple of goals in the 21 appearances he made in the Championship. That level of game time has fallen off a cliff since the arrival of Regis Le Bris.

At 25, there's not much use in him playing the occasional reserve/under-21s game. He needs to be out playing football, and the club could facilitate that with a winter move away from Wearside.

Abdoullah Ba

The French midfielder's lack of use this season has been more surprising than that of Rusyn. Abdoullah Ba was a regular in the matchday squad for much of the 2023/24 campaign, albeit in a struggling Sunderland team that finished 16th.

With Le Bris' current availability predicament in the middle of the park, Ba should be a contender to come into the squad, but he's not, really. In fact, he's not been used in the Championship once this season.

The 21-year-old was bought for €1 million two summers ago. Sunderland's chances of developing Ba into the player that they saw in him when they bought him from Le Havre - a French side that are renowned for their ability to find previously unfound gems - are slim at the moment because of his minutes.

His contract runs until the summer of 2027, and that, alongside the money they spent on him, makes a January sale unlikely. A loan, though, is entirely possible.

Adil Aouchiche

Adil Aouchiche's case is very similar to that of his aforementioned compatriot: a midfielder that has struggled to make his way into the matchday squad, let alone on the pitch, this season.

He has had a tiny bit more luck than Ba though, having had the privilege of playing a whole 12 minutes against Sheffield Wednesday back in August.

Le Bris admitted that Aouchiche and Ba both didn't travel with the squad to face Portsmouth earlier in the campaign because there was a chance that they both could have left on Deadline Day.

Nothing came of it, but a January exit will surely be on the cards for both players if there is renewed interest in them.