SALIS ABDUL SAMED, Ahmed Abdullahi and Ian Poveda remain sidelined at Sunderland - and are unlikely to be back in training until mid-December at the earliest.

Samed and Abdullahi both joined the Black Cats in the final week of the summer transfer window, but neither player has been able to kick a ball since moving to Wearside.

They continue to be sidelined, and having been unable to step up their training programme during the international break, they are not expected to be available to join in full training with the rest of the Sunderland squad for at least another three weeks.

The same is true of Poveda, who made three substitute appearances following his arrival as a free agent before suffering a muscular injury at the start of October.

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Le Bris said: “With these three - Ian, Salis, Ahmed -  it is too soon to know exactly when they will be on the pitch to train and then to play.

“The difference between the two can be quite subtle. But we are hoping that they will be on the pitch sometime in mid-December.”

Aji Alese is in a much better position, with the defender having returned to full training during the international break.

Alese has suffered a succession of injury issues in the last couple of seasons, but is set to feature in the squad for Saturday’s game at Millwall.

Le Bris said: “Aji has been very good in the training sessions. Of course, this is different to a game and competition. But he is looking very good.”