Tony Mowbray makes Dennis Cirkin admission in full Sunderland injury update

Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray admits that Dennis Cirkin may be facing a longer lay-off than initially expected.

Cirkin suffered a hamstring injury during the last international break, and his return before the upcoming one was seen as unlikely at the time.

However, Mowbray has confirmed that the 21-year-old is not yet back on the grass at the Academy of Light and is therefore unlikely to be ready to face Stoke City on the 21st.

"I don't think he's going to make it back straight after the international break," Mowbray said.

"I'm not expecting him to be back for the Stoke game or the ones just after that, at this stage. I haven't seen him on the grass yet which suggests to me that he's not imminent.

"We have to be patient, Dennis needs to be fit and ready. We need to get to a place where he's been training for a while and is knocking on my door, chomping at the bit to be in the team.

"At the moment, he's not even out on the grass with the physios, never mind training with us.

"What you hope happens is that the person who has the shirt helps the team keep going and win matches, which is what has happened with Niall. Then the other players have to be patient and they all understand that, they know the score.

"The players like and understand that they've got good competition around them, and they should do, they should relish it."

There is better news elsewhere in the squad, with Aji Alese and Eliezer Mayenda both back in full training.

Pierre Ekwah and Bradley Dack should join Alex Pritchard in being declared fully fit for the Stoke City trip.

"I think so, both of them," Mowbray said.

"I think they'll train through the break and then be eligible for selection after. Whether we feel we need to give them any U21 game time during that second week of the break we'll see.

"No one has the right to get straight back into our team when it is functioning well. They may have to bide their time but the more options we've got, the better."