'Back on the grass' - Michael Beale delivers huge injury update on Corry Evans
Sunderland captain Corry Evans is back playing football again after a year out and work will now start on ‘phasing him back in’ to the first team picture.
Evans has not played for more than a year after suffering a serious knee injury against Middlesbrough in January 2023.
News of his progress has been very thin on the ground since, but head coach Michael Beale has confirmed he is back in training, although fellow long-term injury victim Elliot Embleton has had another setback, albeit a minor one.
"Some good news,” Michael Beale said during his pre-Huddersfield press conference. “Corry Evans is back on the grass now but is going to do a couple of days with the under-21s group to phase him back in.”
Embleton, meanwhile, was set to play 45 minutes for the under-21s last week but the game was called off due to a waterlogged pitch.
"He rolled his ankle a bit yesterday so is going to miss a couple of days," said Beale of Embleton.
"The plan was for him to play this weekend with the second team but that might get pushed back. It's just one of these things, the game is harsh sometimes.
“You are just getting ready for your first game back and then it gets called off, then the very next session you roll your ankle."
READ MORE SUNDERLAND NEWS
- Sunderland contract situation: Who is nearing the end of their current deal?
- Top Ten: Sunderland's best ever January signings
- Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham names two former Sunderland players as his heroes
- Jordan Willis and seven other Sunderland careers ruined by injury
- Sell to thrive, not sell to survive: The Sunderland 'model' explained - in their own words
- Luke O'Nien and eight other Sunderland players who successfully changed positions