Régis Le Bris makes Romaine Mundle injury admission and explains Sunderland's other absentees in Sevilla draw

Régis Le Bris has confirmed that Romaine Mundle is set to miss the start of the Premier League season after undergoing surgery on his hamstring.

Mundle suffered a recurrence of the injury that sidelined him twice last season in training this week, and has now had an operation in a bid to solve the problem for good. Le Bris says that Sunderland do not yet know the full extent of the injury, but confirmed that he expects to be without the winnger for the start of the season.

The Black Cats had already confirmed that Luke O’Nien, Leo Hjelde, Dennis Cirkin and Aji Alese would miss the first three games of the Premier League season.

“Romaine has had surgery on his hamstring,” Le Bris said.

“It's a real shame because Romaine worked really well through the summer. We decided to go for a conservative treatment, I think it was the best option when the advice from the specialists arrived. But at the end he got this injury after a sprint in a training session and now we have to wait.

“We don't have an exact timeframe yet but it will be short [for the start of the season], for sure. We'll know the full extent a little later.”

Sunderland are closing in on a deal for Sassuolo forward Armand Lauriente, who will help address the absence of Mundle having played regularly on the left wing throughout his career. Lauriente was undergoing a medical on Saturday after a £17.5 million fee between the two teams was agreed. He is expected to sign a five-year deal if all progresses as plans.

Anthony Patterson, Chris Rigg and Nectar Triantis were all absent as Sunderland drew 1-1 with Sevilla on Saturday night at Estadio Algarve, but Le Bris confirmed that there are no injury concerns.

“In pre-season there are always cases where you don't have injuries but maybe some small overloads that you have to manage,” he said.

“This was the case today with Anthony, with Chris [Rigg] and Nectar [Triantis]. There are no worries for them.”

Enzo Le Fee’s first-half goal gave Sunderland a deserved lead at the interval, and though a much more youthful side in the second half defended resolutely, they conceded with the last kick of the game when Ruben Vargas scored. It was nevertheless a good run out for the Black Cats as they gear up for the new campaign.

Romaine Mundle reacts to injury setback

Mundle said he was ‘devastated’ by the latest setback but would be back stronger and confirmed that the surgery had been successful.

Mundle wrote the following on his instagram page on Saturday evening: “Devastated to be here writing this message and words can’t fully describe the emotions attached to this setback. Sometimes it’s hard to find the positives in situations like these but without a doubt I’ll be back better physically. Surgery was a success and the road to recovery begins now. Although it has been a difficult period for me over the last few days, this is only a minor setback and I will be back better than before. Lastly I just want to thank Rowena Johnson, Ernest Schilders, my teammates and staff for their unwavering support and dedication."

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