Sunderland boosted as Adnan Januzaj expected to return from injury ahead of schedule
David Moyes reveals that on-loan Manchester United man is close to returning from injury for Black Cats
SUNDERLAND have been handed a huge injury boost with Adnan Januzaj set to return from injury ahead of schedule.
Black Cats boss David Moyes is currently without nine members of his squad.
The Premier League strugglers have received some good news as the manager confirmed at least one of his absentees is expected back soon.
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Januzaj, on-loan from Manchester United, was ruled out until mid-November after injuring his ankle in the 3-2 defeat to Crystal Palace last month.
Although Moyes refuses to put an exact timescale on when he will be available for match action again, he did confirm the 21-year-old is ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation.
Moyes said: “Adnan is feeling much better and he doesn’t think he will be out as long as we initially thought.
“Hopefully, we can get him back sooner.”
Moyes, who only took charge of the north east side in the summer, has seen his Sunderland squad rocked by injury with almost an entire team currently sidelined.
He added: “We played QPR the other week in the EFL Cup and we had everybody fit, aside from Seb Larsson and Vito Mannone.
“The other players were OK then but suddenly we are into the last couple of games and lost four or five players.
“We will get the injured players back, though.”
Additionally to Januzaj, midfielders Jan Kirchhoff and Lee Cattermole have been ruled out in recent weeks with hamstring and back injuries respectively.
Lamine Kone (hamstring), Patrick van Aanholt (adductor) and Jason Denayer (adductor) are also on the injured list alongside longer-term absentees Larsson (knee), Mannone (elbow) and Fabio Borini (thigh).