Plymouth boss Wayne Rooney admits he must 'be careful' with ex-Sunderland player ahead of Black Cats clash

Plymouth Argyle manager Wayne Rooney has admitted that his side will “need to be careful” with ex-Sunderland defender Brendan Galloway ahead of the Black Cats’ visit to the south coast this weekend.

Regis Le Bris and his side will embark on the 800-mile round trip to Home Park on Saturday afternoon hoping to make it five straight victories to start the new Championship campaign. For their part, the hosts are yet to win a league game this season, and are currently 22nd in the table with two points to their name.

To make matters worse, there are lingering doubts over Galloway’s fitness heading into their clash with Le Bris’ league leaders. The 28-year-old, who is Plymouth’s first choice left-sided centre-back, was absent from his side’s recent defeat at the hands of Stoke City. Prior to that match, Galloway had started all three of Argyle’s Championship outings this term.

The Echo has launched a new WhatsApp SAFC Channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates direct to your phone. Simply click this link to join our SAFC WhatsApp channel.

And speaking after Plymouth’s 1-0 loss to the Potters, manager Rooney urged patience with regards to Galloway’s involvement moving forwards. In an interview with Plymouth Live, he said: “It's more of a hamstring, but he gets a lot of swelling around his knees. I think sometimes if your hamstring is a little bit tight, it puts more pressure on your knees. With Brendan, we need to be careful, especially with his knees. He has had injuries before, so we need to be careful."

Galloway is currently away on international duty with Zimbabwe, and Rooney did go on to state that he does expect his player to be “fine in a few days”, but the ex-Everton defender was not involved at all in his country’s African Cup of Nations qualification stalemate with Kenya on Friday. Next up for Zimbabwe is another qualifier against Cameroon on Tuesday, but at this stage, there is no concrete indication as to whether Galloway will be fit enough to feature in that match.

A product of MK Dons’ youth academy, Galloway rose to prominence with Everton before being sent out on loan to West Brom, and eventually Sunderland. The defender spent the 2017/18 campaign on Wearside, making eight appearances as the Black Cats suffered relegation to League One.