Duncan Watmore will clock his first minutes of the season this weekend when Sunderland under-23s head to Manchester City tomorrow.
The Roadrunner has been out of action since December 2016, when he ruptured his ACL during the lads’ match against Leicester City at the Stadium of Light.
Since then, Watmore has endured many obstacles that he has had to overcome to reach the level he is at today where he is finally ready to notch his first minutes after missing the last nine months.
And speaking to the media ahead of Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship trip to Hull City, Black Cats boss Simon Grayson shed light on the progress Watmore has made ahead of his return to action.
“He's had a good week's training and will play 45 minutes for the Under-23s tomorrow,” he said.
“That's a big boost for Duncan and ultimately us as a football club.
“Let's hope he comes through nicely and then we'll progress from there.
He continued: “But we're certainly not in a position where we're going to throw him back into the first team on Wednesday at Everton because he's been out for such a long time and we have to be very careful with that.”
