Sunderland get welcome injury boost as two players spotted back in training

Sunderland have been handed a welcome injury boosted after Elliot Embleton and Jenson Seelt were pictured joining in first-team training.

Embleton has been absent since suffering an ankle fracture and ligament damage in Sunderland's 1-1 draw with Hull City last year, and has been making encouraging progress towards a comeback over the summer.

He suffered a minor setback in his recovery later in the pre-season campaign, which prevented him from getting any minutes under his belt, but after the 1-1 draw with Real Mallorca Tony Mowbray explained that there was no concern over his longer-term fitness.

"He's getting there, we were going to take him to the US but we decided he probably wouldn't have played any games," Mowbray said.

"He's had a slight setback, only a week or two, though, I think.

"He was feeling a bit of pain in the plate that had been inserted into his foot, and because he was feeling pain the surgeon decided to remove the plate because the fracture had healed.

"Now it is going to take a few weeks, maybe a month, for the scar of the removal of the plate to heal, but the fracture is OK so as soon as the operation side is sorted, he will be back playing.

"There's just a timescale when you take a plate out of your foot. The important thing is that the damage from the original break has healed.

"It will just be a matter of weeks, really, before Embo is back."

Embleton's return to some first-team training ten days on is a good indication that his recovery is on track as things stand.

He will of course need significant training time, and perhaps some games in the U21s, before his match fitness is realistically at a level where he can return to the first-team fold at Championship level.

Seelt, meanwhile, suffered a recurrence of the ankle problem that he arrived at the club with when making his debut for the club during the tour of the US.

Like Embleton he will be short of match fitness but his return to training suggests a competitive debut is nearing, and will offer Mowbray some welcome depth in defence.