Marc Guiu is an early doubt to be available for Sunderland’s Premier League opener against West Ham on Saturday.
The 19-year-old completed his season-long loan move from Chelsea last week and was unveiled at the Stadium of Light during Sunderland’s final pre-season friendly against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.
However, Guiu could miss the start of Sunderland’s Premier League campaign as he has had no pre-season training due to Chelsea’s Club World Cup campaign this summer.
The striker was part of Enzo Maresca’s squad which travelled to the United States and he made two appearances as a substitute during the group stage as Chelsea went on to win the competition.
Guiu went on holiday to Hawaii after the Club World Cup ended on July 13 and returned to the UK this month to finalise his loan move to Sunderland.
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Guiu played no part in the 3-0 defeat to Rayo Vallecano at the weekend and Sunderland head coach, Regis Le Bris, admitted after the game that Chelsea’s on-loan striker may need to work on his match fitness before he is able to start for the Black Cats.
‘We are still in the process to improve the squad and progressively new signings like these two will help the squad, even if they started later,’ Le Bris said.
‘So, we’ll have to be patient with them, to build their foundations for the season.’
Eliezer Mayenda is likely to start in Sunderland’s attack against West Ham, although Wilson Isidor returned from injury against Rayo Vallecano and was able to play 68 minutes before being substituted.
In a separate interview with Northern Echo, Le Bris was asked about the availability of Guiu and fellow new signing Arthur Masuaku for the game at home to West Ham this Saturday.
‘We’ll see,’ Le Bris said.
‘Every day we will make an assessment of their level and see how far we can push them through the training sessions. Lift the intensity, the contact.
‘If they react well, they can then join the squad. If they don’t react well, we wait one day, two day and assess again. So we will see for next week.’
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