Regis Le Bris on Ahmed Abdullahi’s first Sunderland season

After making just eight Sunderland appearances last season and playing just twice in Scotland, you’d have been brave to predict that the teenage striker would play such an important role at the Stadium of Light this term.

Challenging spells can be beneficial down the line.

And Sunderland will hope that proves to be the case for summer signing Ahmed Abdullahi.

The 20-year-old is yet to play a single first team minute since joining from Gent. He arrived with a persistent groin injury and Sunderland knew further intervention was likely required.

But the hope was that the young striker would have been fit enough to feature by now. He missed the first half of the season after having surgery but resumed fitness at the turn of the year and showed flashes of his promise, scoring a hat-trick for the Under-21s.

But a further setback followed and the campaign might well end without Abdullahi kicking a ball for the first team.

Fortunately for Sunderland, they haven’t needed him. The form of Wilson Isidor and Mayenda has meant the Black Cats haven’t been under any pressure whatsoever to rush Abdullahi back.

And the hope now is that although he hasn’t played any senior football, Abdullahi will have still benefited from a year of acclimatising to the club, the culture and the area.

“Sometimes he’s been in the physio room and sometimes on the pitch with the coaches, but he hasn’t been connected with the project this season,” said head coach Regis Le Bris.

If Regis Le Bris’ side fail to achieve their promotion ambition, then a mass exodus could be on the cards, with Dan Neil, Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg among the players linked with moves away from the club.

While the Black Cats will need to reinvest in their squad, one player who is