Michael Beale has confirmed that one Sunderland player is ready to make their return from injury

Jay Matete will be named in the Sunderland squad for the first time this

season at Portman Road on Saturday, according to Michael Beale.

After an incredible first half to the season, Sunderland travels to face a

formidable Ipswich Town team, who are now atop the table. After a successful

loan that saw him help Plymouth Argyle win League One the previous season,

Matete sustained a significant injury during the team’s preseason tour of the

USA. As a result, he has not been able to play in a competitive match this season.

Although Matete has been back in full training for a few weeks and participated

for 45 minutes in a U21 match at Eppleton versus Arsenal, Beale has not

yet selected Matete for his matchday team. Before the game against Ipswich

Town, Beale stated that this will now alter and that he will give Matete an

opportunity to work his way into his plans.

At the end of the month, a loan move might be taken into consideration, but

neither the player nor the club are considering it at this time.

“He’s going to return to the squad this weekend,” Beale stated.

“He’s trained well; clearly, he’s not quite match fit, but I’ve seen enough of him in training to know that we may

occasionally need to substitute another midfield player to enter a game. He has

never before seemed ready, in my opinion, to rejoin the team.

Prior to suffering an injury last season, he was on loan. While his application has

impressed me as I get to know him better, he hasn’t played much until last

week when he played 45 minutes against Arsenal U21.

“Well, we’ll see. A few players will either be critically needed before the end of the

month, based on our roster, or they will feel compelled to play [on loan].

Beale is expected to choose from the same group of players as he did the previous weekend, and Eliezer Mayenda

might make a comeback to the team after being left out.