Sunderland hold advantage with Habib Diarra after latest AFCON developments
Habib Diarra has missed the last two Sunderland games through injury.
With Sunderland gearing up to face Man United at Old Trafford, fans will be eager to see who is named in the starting 11 come 1:45pm.
However, it has been well documented since that Diarra will not be one of them, having undergone surgery for a gtroin injury just days before the Black Cats hosted Aston Villa.
Diarra is expected to be out until December, but depending on his situation with Senegal, they could be without him for longer.
Habib Diarra could be refused AFCON opportunity
Diarra has been a regular for Senegal over the last two years, and his injury lay-off is unlikely to change that ahead of AFCON, which gets underway in December.
Should he be called up, there is a high chance that he would not return to Sunderland until January, with Senegal among the favourites to win the entire competition.
However, given his injury situation and how quick the turnaround would be for him to go and compete, there is a chance that the Black Cats could prevent him from travelling.
That is according to injury expert Dr Rajpal Brar, who exclusively told Mackem News: “They very well could refuse to release him, depending on how his recovery has gone and what they are comfortable with.
“Those latter stages of return to sport and building match fitness are amongst the highest risk, so Sunderland might want to keep that in-house.”
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Sunderland are yet to see the best from Habib Diarra
Having joined from Strasbourg in a club-record £30million deal, Diarra has a lot of expectation on his shoulders.
The early signs have been promising, and after four games, it is hard to make a judgment, but there is still undoubtedly a lot more to come from the midfielder
Last season, he scored four and assisted five for the Ligue 1 outfit, but is yet to to contrbite to any goals in the Premier League.
Via FotMob, Diarra has only created once chance since moving to the Stadium of Light, and that will be one area of his game that fans see much more of upon his return.
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