Trai Hume, Sunderland defender, has started every Championship game this season. Tony Mowbray is concerned about Trai Hume’s workload and believes Sunderland’s young defenders must be ready to step in at some point.
Hume put in one of his best performances of the season in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Norwich City at the Stadium of Light, scoring in the first half before making a number of crucial defensive interventions in the second as Mowbray’s side earned three points.
Hume has been a constant in the Championship this season, which Mowbray attributes to his impressive development over the last year.
The Northern Ireland international has established himself as the club’s right-back, but with Timothée Pembélé taking his time to recover from injury, there is little depth behind him.
The return of Dennis Cirkin and the impending return of Aji Alese will give Mowbray the option of using Niall Huggins off the right in time, but Hume will likely have to continue without rest for the time being.
Given that Hume is also starting every game for Northern Ireland, Mowbray is concerned about a future injury, despite appreciating the level at which the full back is performing for his team.
Mowbray insists that he will have to protect Hume at some point and wants Jenson Seelt and Nectar Triantis to be ready.
“Trai has grown into an international footballer now, he’s matured a lot,” Mowbray said of Hume’s outstanding performance against Norwich.
“I remember him knocking on my door during my first few months here, sitting down, and asking when he would get an opportunity.” To be honest, I knew nothing about him when I first arrived. Lynden was probably playing right back at the time, and Luke was probably in the conversation as well.
“I told him to be patient, that there would be injuries and therefore opportunities, and to make sure that he was ready to grab it,” he added.
“Make me go ‘wow.'” That’s what happened; Lynden has moved on, Luke has taken over at center back, and Trai has made it his own. We use him in midfield at times, and he’s more than capable of doing so.
“We’re very pleased with him, though we are concerned about how much football he has played.” He had two or three three-game weeks following two international matches, with another international break coming up in a couple of weeks.
“At some stage Trai will be getting substituted off, and the opportunity for the young centre backs we’ve got will be there for them, because we’ve got to be careful that we don’t lose Trai to an injury because we’ve overused him.”
Pembélé is expected to return to action after the next international break after suffering an injury while returning to full training earlier this month. Following his deadline-day arrival from PSG, the defender had been on a bespoke fitness program.
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