The Sunderland winger is out of contract at the end of the current campaign but the club could extend for a further season
Régis Le Bris says Sunderland have opened talks with Bertrand Traoré over his future at the club and that all parties have agreed to make a final decision further down the line.
Sunderland agreed an initial one-year contract with Traoré when he made the switch from Ajax on deadline day last year, but the club hold the option to extend for a further campaign. Traoré became a key part of Le Bris's XI following his move from the Eredivisie, but has only two appearances to his name since departing for the Africa Cup of Nations after the previous Newcastle United clash. The winger suffered a significant knee injury while representing Burkino Faso and then a recurrence at Elland Road earlier in March, which is expected to keep him sidelined for around another month.
Sunderland remain hopeful that the 30-year-old can play a part through the final weeks of the campaign, at which stage director of football Florent Ghisolfi is expected to reopen talks to determine whether all parties want to continue for another campaign.
"Yes, it's probably a bit early to make a decision," Le Bris said.
"I know that Bertrand and Flo had a conversation recently about this topic, so it's clear. It's not decided yet, and we'll wait a bit."
Le Bris has a major challenge in Traoré's absence, with Nilson Angulo also suffering an injury that will keep him sidelined for four to six weeks. However, speaking ahead of the 1-0 loss to Brighton, the head coach explained that it was always the plan to share the load across a number of players given the demands of the position in his system.
"Like I said just before, for one player in this position, it's hard to repeat [when they're young]," Le Bris said.
"Nilson for example is young, coming from another league. The responsibility for just one player would be probably too much, so we'll see. It's more about two, three, four players in this area."
Régis Le Bris on Chris Rigg’s breakthrough performance against Brighton
One of those options is Chris Rigg, who played himself firmly into contention ahead of Sunday's Tyne-Wear derby with an excellent performance against Brighton. Chemsdine Talbi and Eliezer Mayenda are other options, while Trai Hume also played further forward when Nordi Mukiele was available to play at full back.
Le Bris said he was pleased with Rigg's response to a difficult festive period and had shown a strong example to other young players at the squad.
"I'm really pleased because I repeat he's a good example for what we are doing here in the club," Le Bris said.
"We believe in young players. He's from Sunderland and he's a great example. He had an opportunity early in the season against Aston Villa, that was bad memories for him [substituted off after Reinildo's red card] and after that he struggled during the festive period and it was tough. But he accepted the situation and kept pushing and wanted to learn and show every day during the training session that he can be a better player. Today, he showed. He still needs to improve the end product, for a winger or offensive player, the final third is really important, the hardest to develop, but he's in a good place and I'm happy for him.
"He's versatile, which is good," Le Bris added.
"He can play as a No.8, No.10 probably, right winger, because he's always committed.He works hard. Sometimes maybe because he works so hard he can lack some energy to be more clinical, but for a young player his mindset is excellent."
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