Maja could make cameo appearance against Royals
Josh Maja could make his senior Sunderland debut tomorrow after Chris Coleman confirmed that he will be part of the matchday squad for the clash with Reading.
James Vaughan is suspended after being booked for his goal celebration at Burton Albion last week, and Maja stepped up his comeback from a knee injury earlier this week by playing 60 minutes for the U23s against Swansea.
Coleman wants the 18-yearold (pictured) to get more minutes under his belt before challenging for a starting berth, but he could make a cameo appearance tomorrow.
The Sunderland boss said: “Young Maja really needs more minutes with the 23s before we could consider him playing a significant role, although he’ll b e in and around the squad, possibly on the bench because we’ve got one or two missing.”
Coleman confirmed that Marc Wilson will also be available for selection and hopes that, despite missing training this week, midfielder Darron Gibson will also be available. The Sunderland manager continues to select from a narrow pool thanks to a number of long-term problems. He said: “Marc trained this week with us. We gave him a bit of a hit and he came through it OK.
“Darron Gibson didn’t train on Tuesday or Wednesday because we trained indoors due to the weather, and not all players can train on that because of the reaction they get to working on astroturf.
“We’ve still got the longtermers such as Duncan, and Jonny Williams is out for two or three months, Kone is out for two or three months.
“Didier Ndong is out for probably another two or three weeks, and Jack Rodwell, with his hamstring, probably another week. Billy Jones will probably join in training again next week, which is encouraging.”