CATTS RARING TO GO AFTER INJURY FEARS
SUNDERLAND MIDFIELDER OPENS UP ON WORRIES AFTER HIP SURGERY
Lee Cattermole admits he was worried about his career after missing six months last season – but says he’s now fit and raring to go.
The Sunderland midfielder has played a part in all three of Sunderland’s preseason games so far, building on what was for him, personally, an optimistic finish to the last campaign.
Cattermole had undergone hip surgery in September, and revealed that while he had been plagued by the problem for years, he knew this time it was serious and had become ‘too much’.
Now pain-free, however, the 29-year-old is looking forward to a ‘new challenge’ of helping Sunderland gain promotion.
He said: “I reckon I’ve had problems going back probably four or five years, coming and going.
“When it came on last season I was worried, I honestly thought I’ve got some problems here, it has become too much.
“The last three or four years, the back end of the season, you don’t worry, there’s some many big games, the adrenaline is flying, you get through.
“When it is the start of the season, especially with the last manager, it probably worked in my favour that he didn’t want players missing training then coming into the team. It allowed me to address it, I went to America and it turned out to be serious.
“Since then I’ve noticed a massive difference, in myself as much as anything.
“At home, you don’t realise how much it affects you, you just keep battling on. You go to bed thinking ‘am I going to be all right in the morning?’ then sometimes you’re not and sometimes you are.
“It is a weird experience to be honest.
“I’m just glad to be out the other side of it, it is a new challenge.”
Cattermole only returned for David Moyes with six games to go last season, and was frustrated at the end of the campaign when he was getting a run of games under his belt.
However, he believes he’ll benefit from having a full, intense pre-season for a change.
“I felt I was just getting going the last week of the season,” he said. “We didn’t finish strong but I felt my performances myself were all right and I was getting somewhere.
“For a couple of years now I’ve not really had much of a pre-season. I just want to get through and get it under my belt, it’ll stand me in good stead.”