Sunderland injury boost as Lee Johnson provides update ahead of Ipswich Town test

Lee Johnson has revealed that the full back has been back in full training this week and is feeling strong after his recent ankle injury.

While not yet fully committed, Johnson’s comments suggested that the 23-year-old could well feature over the next two away games against Ipswich Town and Arsenal.

Hume has not featured for Sunderland since sustaining an ankle injury in the Carabao Cup win over QPR in October.

"The really good news is that Denver is not a million miles away.

“He’s had three or four days of full training, he’s moving well, has looked comfortable and confident with his ankle.

“I expect him to come in sooner rather than later.

Johnson also confirmed that Dennis Cirkin and Corry Evans are back in training after recent injuries, but said that it was a ‘tentative’ return for the pair and neither are expected to feature this weekend.

Cirkin is, according to Johnson, ‘90%’ of the way to a full recovery from a double hernia injury, while Evans is still feeling a small amount of discomfort in the quad injury picked up in the warm up ahead of the 2-1 defeat to Cambridge United.

However, Johnson remains hopeful that he could return over the festive period.

"Dennis and Corry are in quite tentatively, which means that we control the chaos as much as possible.

"They’d be no for a weekend, I’d say.

"Corry just keeps getting this little feeling on his quad, and every time he contracts to extreme levels he is feeling it a little bit.

"It’s just a couple of days off the pace with him.

"With Dennis, it was a double hernia so really that’s a conversation, you’re good to go pretty quickly when you are good to go.

"It’s just whether he can cope with striking a ball, full tilt, and he’s getting there, he’s probably 90% of the way to a full recovery. So that’s really good news for us.”

Johnson admitted in his press conference that the return of Hume and Cirkin means he is now highly unlikely to consider signing a left back in the January window.

A message from the Football Clubs Editor

Our aim is to provide you with the best, most up-to-date and most informative football coverage 365 days a year.

This depth of coverage costs, so to help us maintain the high-quality reporting that you are used to, please consider taking out a subscription to our new sports-only package here.

Your support is much appreciated. Richard Mennear, Football Clubs Editor