MICHAEL Beale says Corry Evans can be Sunderland's dressing room "glue" as the club captain nears a return to action after more than a year on the sidelines.
The 33-year-old hasn't played for Sunderland since suffering a serious knee injury in January last year, but Beale yesterday revealed that the midfielder is now back in full training.
Evans is initially training with Sunderland's Under-21s and will play a couple of games at that level before Beale even considers a return to Championship action. While delighted at Evans' positive progress, Beale is still understandably reluctant to put a timescale on a first team comeback - and says he will let the midfielder decide when he's ready for action.
"I think it's a two-way thing with that, I need to keep talking to him about how he feels," said Beale.
"He'll do some sessions with the Under-21s and naturally, he'll play a couple of games with the Under-21s first. Then it's about his body and how responds to that, when you're playing small-sided games or have done a lot of training in isolation as he has, it's fair to say you need to get your logistics again on a bigger pitch and get your lungs burning.
"He's got to go through that period and it'll be a two-way process, what our eyes see and what the data says but also how he feels. I wouldn't want to put a specific timeframe on it but he is definitely going to need a couple of Under-21s games I think.
"The sooner he can feel comfortable in the Under-21s session, he'll jump back in with us. I think that'll happen over a week or so period."
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When Evans is ready for first team involvement, it will be a major boost for Beale on and off the pitch.
He said: "Look, if we can get him in and around the changing room, having someone like him there, he can be that glue between the information you're giving and making sure that on the pitch in difficult moments, you're sticking to the game plan and staying positive.
"He's someone who can certainly be that glue, we've got other players who are stepping up brilliantly at the moment but you don't gain experience quickly and Corry certainly has that."
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