Joel Lynch may have played himself into the starting eleven after his performances against Sheff United and MK Dons, but he’s been chatting about the uncertainty of being without a club and how delighted he is to be at SAFC.
“It’s been tough for me,” he says. “At QPR I thought I was going to stay on but they lowered their wage budget and the way that they’re going about thing has completely changed. It was a situation where I had to leave and then the market itself has been tough. I think a lot of young players are being signed now, clubs are looking at future prospects and signings in different ways. I thought I’d get straight back in.. it was a weird time, being unemployed and wondering why there wasn’t that interest. I was seeing every other day clubs taking younger lads from Premier League teams, and I think that’s the way it’s going. I think a lot of teams in the Championship have overspent in the past, so they’re going for loans and cheaper deals. I was on a good deal at the time with QPR, I was waiting and waiting, I had a few sort of offers and half offers but they weren’t really what I wanted, so I then decided to take up the challenge with Sunderland and sort of start again. When Sunderland came in it was just a no brainer, regardless of the drop down [to League One]. I’m not concerned about money, it’s about being part of something that’s moving forward. I wanted a new challenge and I think this will work well for me. They’re top players here. I’m not expecting just to walk in and play because I’ve played games in the Championship the last few years, I know what it takes to play for Sunderland.”
Jack Ross also gave an update on Elliot Embleton’s hamstring injury, which he picked up against Sheffield United last week. “It’s not as bad as the one he suffered at the end of last season,” Ross said. “But because it’s the same hamstring, we’re just getting another opinion on it at the moment. There’s nothing definite yet. It still won’t be a 2-3 week one, it’ll be longer. It might be six to eight weeks, that’s the initial prognosis at the moment. That could change, we’ll get a second opinion. First and foremost, it’s a blow for him, I’ve been delighted with him. Elliot backs himself to play, he wants to play all the time and I think we’ve integrated him into the squad. He’s made appearances off the bench, he’s started games, he’s been good. Selfishly for me, I could do with him because there today, positionally we didn’t have a huge amount we could change. Elliot can play one or two different roles and that is always an asset. But he’ll come back fine from it.”
