Sunderland winger Jocelin Ta Bi could be closing in on a debut for the club
January signing Jocelin Ta Bi has begun full training at Sunderland.
Régis Le Bris confirmed that the Ivory Coast winger had taken part in contact training ahead of Sunderland’s game against Liverpool on Wednesday night, having being given time to build up his match fitness after an ankle injury.
Ta Bi, who signed last month from Israeli club Maccabi Netanya, will not be in consideration to feature against Liverpool but the news raises hope of him playing some part over the coming months. Le Bris is impressed with what he has seen so far from the inexperienced but talented 21-year-old.
“Yeah, he's in a good place as well,” Le Bris said.
“Full training this morning with contacts. And he showed great qualities this morning. So I'm happy for him because he's in a good fitness level now, and he showed good quality with his left foot. From now we'll see, but it's always positive to have good energy on the pitch and it was the case this morning.”
Speaking shortly after Ta Bi joined the club last month, Le Bris said: “He's a young winger with a specific profile.
“It's rare in this industry to find this explosiveness and skills to dribble and to have this courage and personality in one vs ones. He has this quality. Now we have to build his profile to get ready for the Premier League. You never know [how long it will take him to be ready]. Sometimes they can step up really quickly, but this is the identity of our club. We can't buy a full squad of experienced players like Granit or Nordi. We also have to build with young lads and give them opportunities and support them. I hope they will be strong players for us.”
Speaking after the deal was concluded, sporting director Kristjaan Speakman said: “We’re delighted to reach an agreement for Jocelin to join Sunderland. A dynamic and explosive wide player who enjoys attacking duels, predominantly from the right side, he is a player with high potential, and we will integrate him patiently into our Club. We believe in the player, and we believe in our approach to developing talent, so we are looking forward to starting the journey with him, and I’m sure our supporters will also enjoy the attributes he brings to our team.”
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Le Bris’s team news update ahead of Liverpool clash
The Sunderland head coach said he expects Noah Sadiki to be available on Wednesday night after a minor injury scare at Arsenal, but confirmed that Bertrand Traore and Granit Xhaka remain sidelined.
“Almost three weeks, something like that,” Le Bris said.
“So it's always symptom-driven, but they are both in a good place. So hopefully we'll have good news in a few weeks. He suffered an important knee injury and played with his national team in the second half, I think. I don't remember the opponent. And when he came back here in Sunderland, the diagnosis was that you need to rest and you need to take care of your knee if you want to have a stable knee for the end of the season and for his career as well. So we didn't rush the process and we took care of him just to make sure that he's ready to play.”
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