Tony Mowbray outlines exactly when he expects Sunderland's injured players to return

Tony Mowbray has admitted that he doesn't expect many of Sunderland's injured players to be back in the opening weeks of the Championship campaign, with Elliot Embleton currently the closest to a return.

Summer signing Jenson Seelt is currently recovering from an ankle injury picked up on the club's US tour, and the Sunderland head coach said earlier this week that he expects him to be at least a couple of weeks away from returning.

Mowbray issued an update on Sunderland's other injured players ahead of the Championship campaign beginning with Ipswich Town's visit on Sunday evening.

"Elliot is on the grass, he's got his boots on and is doing stuff by himself which is telling me he's maybe a couple of weeks away from joining in with us," Mowbray said.

"I haven't seen Ross [on the grass] but I know he's had his boots on at times over the summer and he's telling me the end of September, so we're hopefully looking at seven or eight weeks there.

"Corry is the long-term one, really. I don't expect we will see him until Christmas or some time around the new year. He's had an ACL injury, that's a nine to twelve-month problem so we're still looking at a while out for Corry.

"With Aji, I think maybe six to eight weeks. We won't see him in the first couple of months, I'm pretty sure of that."

Jay Matete is expected to be out for at least two months after undergoing surgery on his knee, while Eliezer Mayende is sidelined with a hamstring strain.