New setback for Wright
22 Sep 2006 - 10:41:48
Sunderland full-back Stephen Wright will be out of action for 12 weeks after undergoing ankle surgery.
The injury-prone 26-year-old originally picked up the problem during the 2-0 Carling Cup defeat at Bury on August 22 and went under the knife after alternative methods of treatment failed to bring about any improvement.
Black Cats boss Roy Keane also has Steve Caldwell, David Connolly, Daryl Murphy and Stephen Elliott on his injured list, while Chris Brown and Jon Stead are struggling with minor fitness problems.
Despite the injury crisis, Keane is still planning to off-load some of his fringe players.
"I'm not too sure about bringing in new faces, I think we've brought in enough for the time being," Keane told the club's official website.
"It will be more or less trying to get players out on loan, to get them games.
"With the squad that we've got, some of them won't even be involved in the first team for the next month or two, so I just want to be fair to the players and send them out on loan.
"It's hard to keep 15 players happy, never mind 32, but that's the challenge ahead. I think we need to tighten up the squad a little bit.
"Getting quality players in to improve the squad is all well and good, but when you've got players and it's clear that they won't be involved then why not go out on loan, it benefits everybody."