Tony Mowbray gives Niall Huggins fitness from seestyle's blog

Tony Mowbray has given a fitne s update on long-term injury victim Niall Huggins, although it sounds like we will have to wait until after the World Cup before he makes his long-awaited Sunderland return.Huggins saw a promising start Joonas Donskoi Jersey to his Sunderland career curtailed by a stre s fracture of the back last season. He was expected to return this summer, but then bo s Alex Neil reported he had suffered another bizarre injury setback. That means the former Leeds man has not made an appearance for Sunderland since the 5-0 win over Cheltenham on September Brent Burns Jersey 28 last year.However, while Huggins is unlikely to be back any time soon, he does at least know he has a manager who rates him highly in Tony Mowbray. Scroll to Continue"I almost signed Niall Huggins at Blackburn, Mowbray revealed. I like Niall because he is a bundle of energy and drive and pa sion and emotion. When you manage a working-cla s football club Mikkel Boedker Jersey with working cla s people, they want to see their players give everything and Niall is the epitome of that.""I have to be patient and wait for him. How close is he to a return ? I generally answer these questions by saying I'm not a physio. I do speak to the physios but I don't like to put timescales on things and put pre sure on young players.""Some need longer to build confidence after a bad injury, Tommy Wingels Jersey and I'm not here to tell them they have to be ready in two weeks or four weeks. They'll be ready when they're ready, and when Niall has got his boots on and is on the training ground, buzzing around and putting tackles in, running, cro sing, and shooting, he will be competing to get back in the team Chris Tierney Jersey again."He's not out there with his boots on joining in, yet. He's still a while away so we shouldn't be expecting him to come back in the next few weeks. If the team keeps on doing well, he'll find it tough to get in the team. He's a good player, Niall, and we're looking forward to having everybody fit in the not-too-distant future."