Embleton determined to force his way into the Black Cats first team
Elliot Embleton is targeting further first-team involvement at Sunderland in the 2020/21 season – having recovered from a troublesome hamstring injury.
The youngster was on the periphery of the Black Cats’ first-team squad last season, but saw any hopes of a breakthrough halted by a niggling injury in the latter half of the campaign.
Embletonwasabletobenefitfromthesuspensionoffootball in March as he worked on his fitness and, having now fully recovered, the attacking midfielder says he is hoping to force his way into Phil Parkinson’s plans.
“It was obviously a shame about the way the season ended, but it gave me another few monthstobuildthestrengthin mylegbackup,”hesaid,speaking to safc.com.
“I had some gym equipment at home, so I was doing mybestwiththatwhilefollowingaprogrammeIhadinplace.
“I was doing plenty of runningtomakesureIwasfullyfit for when we returned to preseason.
“For me this season it’s about getting as many minutes as I can to help the team win matches.”
Embleton’s recovery has also handed Sunderland a boost when it comes to the new League One salary cap, which was voted through on Friday.
The EFL have confirmed that any players who were agedunder21onJanuary1will be exempt from the 2020/21 salary and squad caps.
Embleton falls into that category, meaning his wages won’t count towards Sunderland’s£2.5millionlimit–while also allowing Cats manager Parkinson an additional space to add a new signing to his ranks.