Niall Huggins back in Sunderland first team squad after injury nightmare

Niall Huggins has returned to the Sunderland senior squad after completing his injury rehab with the under-23s, it has been confirmed.

Huggins has had a terrible time with injury since joining Sunderland from Leeds more than a year ago.

He has been restricted to just a handful of senior appearances, all of which came in the early part of last season.

However, after playing several matches now for the under-23s side, Huggins is back training with the first-team squad.

"He's training with the First-Team now so we've handed over responsibility for his minutes in training which is great for Niall,” under-23 coach Graeme Murty confirmed. “We'll continue to drop him into the team as required by the first-team, which is really good.

It remains to be seen just how close Huggins is to making a return to the Sunderland first team, and Murty says his biggest remaining challenge is now a mental one – specifically learning to trust his body again.

"I think he would be the first one to [acknowledge] that,” Murty said. “He's listening to his body, his body is responding to what he wants it to do, which is a challenge when you've been out for a while.

"Having gone through it myself, I can see the steps that he's taking positively to get back to where he wants to be. There were times when it won't work and times when he tells his body to do something and it says no.

"They're immensely frustrating as a footballer, we have to help him get over that frustration and get him ready for when he's dropped back into the first-team. One of the best things about the Under-21s programme as far as I can see, is the capacity to get those minutes first-team players to get them to understand it is a viable competition in terms of minutes and making sure that they're match-prepped should they be called and ready to go in the First-Team."