Casualty Wyke could be out until Christmas
ROSS SAYS CATS WILL HAVE TO MAKE BEST OF WHAT THEY HAVE
JACK Ross does not expect to be allowed to sign a free agent to replace long-term casualty Charlie Wyke.
Black Cats striker Wyke suffered knee ligament damage in last weekend’s defeat at Burton Albion, and while the initial prognosis was that he would be out for between six weeks and two months, further investigation has increased that timescale to between two and three months, which would effectively rule him out until the New Year.
Wyke’s injury raises the question of whether Ross would be able to look for a free agent to offer extra firepower, but Sunderland’s wage bill is such that players will have to leave before any new faces can be added to the payroll.
And that means Ross will be left to get by with only two out-andout strikers in the shape of teenager Josh Maja and on-loan Watford man Jerome Sinclair, albeit supported by the likes of Chris Maguire and Lynden Gooch.
Asked about bringing in a free agent, Ross said: “It would be nice to, but I don’t think I will be able to.
“I said towards the end of the window that I wasn’t in a position to bring anyone else in and I haven’t heard anything to suggest that anything has changed.
“It may adjust over the coming weeks but at the moment, rather than complain about what I don’t have, I am concentrating on getting the best out of what I do have – that’s all I can affect.
“I need to do the best I can with the players I have got and make sure we are still in a decent position at the turn of the year when Charlie becomes available again.”
Wyke was suffering from a knee ligament injury when he joined from Bradford City at the beginning of August and that ruled him out of the first month of the campaign.
He was making his first league start for the club at Burton when he was hurt in a collision with Brewers’ goalkeeper Dimitar Evtimov.
The injury is of the same type, and affects the same knee, as the one he sustained in the summer, although Ross says that is a matter of bad luck rather than a recurrence of that previous problem. “Charlie is a bit worse than we first thought so he is going to be out for nine to 12 weeks, making it Christmas time/New Year before we see him back,” he said. “It’s unfortunate because, while it is the same knee, and the same type of injury, it is nothing to do with the fact that he had that injury in the summer. “It’s just bad luck that it is the same leg, and there is damage to his posterior cruciate ligament. “It doesn’t require surgery – if you have a cruciate problem, that is the better one to have – but he will be in a brace for the next few weeks and then it is a process of rehabilitation.” Aside from Wyke, fellow long-term injury victim Duncan Watmore, and the suspended Max Power – who completes his threematch ban this weekend – Ross has a full squad to pick from ahead of tomorrow’s game against Rochdale at the Stadium of Light.