Régis Le Bris drops big hint on Sunderland's plans for Jocelin Ta Bi this summer and next season
The Sunderland winger is fit again after suffering an ankle injury shortly after his arrival in January
Régis Le Bris says Sunderland are at this stage unlikely to send Jocelin Ta Bi on loan next season.
Ta Bi arrived from Maccabi Netanya in the January transfer window, despite having very little experience as a senior player under his belt. He made two appearances before suffering an ankle injury that required surgery, returning to the matchday squad against Manchester United last weekend. Sunderland will assess their options this summer but Le Bris believes at this stage that the 21-year-old's development will be best served staying with the senior group and having the chance to experience the Premier League most likely from the bench.
"It's more the case [part of our short-term thinking], Le Bris said.
"Yeah, he's really inexperienced and his previous culture was really short - even in Israel it was a really short experience [at senior level].
"So he is talented with the attributes of a winger and it's rare. After that, we'll have to decide a bit later about the starting line-up and the subs we'll have to adjust around the starters. And for a winger, in general, the forwards, it's often easier to get minutes at the end of a game. So, you can, through the season, progressively you can get more experiences without starting games, which is more difficult and more demanding. And it's probably a bit different for a midfielder, a defender, a goalkeeper, for example, or the striker sometimes. But for a winger, it's possible. At the minute, it's more or less the idea we have for Jocelin."
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Le Bris sets out winger selection strategy for end of Premier League campaign
Ta Bi and fellow January arrival Nilson Angulo could be in line for more minutes over the final two games of the campaign, but Le Bris insists he will not be thinking about the longer term with any of his decisions. The pair are set for a major role in pre-season as they bid to establish themselves as regulars in the squad and starting XI.
“For the subs, we'll manage to win the game and probably our main vision is to manage just the 95 minutes we have,” Le Bris said.
“And without taking into account the status of a player, if we need a winger and things could influence the game, we'll use the winger. But if we don't need a winger because we have to defend a bit more, I don't know, we'll make a different decision. So after that, the pre-season will be different because we have time and room to experience different situations. That's always different but here, it's about winning. It's about managing the game with this idea.”
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