Sunderland will lose several players to the African Cup of Nations on December 15th.

Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris has admitted that it is “good news” to have his African Cup of Nations stars available for this month’s Wear-Tyne Derby against Newcastle United.

The Black Cats could have as many as seven first team squad members heading to the continental tournament, with DR Congo duo Noah Sadiki and Arthur Masuaku, Senegal midfielder Habib Diarra, Mozambique defender Reinildo Mandava, Morocco winger Chemsdine Talbi, Burkina Faso attacker Bertrand Traore, and Ivory Coast forward Simon Adingra are all expected to be absent while they represent their respective countries.

Up until yesterday, however, there had been a lingering sense of uncertainty over when exactly Sunderland would lose that influential septet. AFCON gets underway on December 21st, and is set to run until January 18th of next year.

But it has since been confirmed that FIFA have determined that Premier League players will not have to part company with their clubs until December 15th - one day after the first derby of the season, which is set to be held at the Stadium of Light.

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What has Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris said about AFCON boost ahead of Newcastle United clash?

And speaking in a pre-match press conference ahead of Wednesday’s top flight clash with Liverpool, Le Bris suggested that he was delighted to be heading into the next fortnight with a strong cohort at his disposal.

When asked about FIFA’s decision, he said: “Good news for the team and for this fixture [vs Newcastle United] especially. We have a strong group, and that's good because we don't have any injuries and the players who haven't played much before will have opportunities to play. They can contribute as well because the group is powerful with different options.”

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Le Bris was also quizzed on squad depth, and whether he believed his side had enough quality in reserve to deal with the rigours of losing so many key names, to which he responded: “I trust the quality of this group. We started with 12, 13, 14 main players as starters but the others behind the scenes are working hard and they’ve shown good qualities before. The dynamic is really positive.

“They can show that they can contribute even for a short period, so I'm not too concerned. They know the rules and sometimes they can get frustrated, which is normal, but at the same time, they know the level and will be ready.”

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