Sunderland may have to go down the Paul McGrath route to nurse Jordan Willis through games, according to Lee Johnson.
The centre-back is carrying a long-term knee problem which has already required an injection earlier this season to allow him to carry on playing.
But he had to go off before half-time in Sunderland’s 2-1 home defeat against Plymouth Argyle as the injury flared up again.
And head coach Johnson says the Black Cats may have to allow him to do minimal training and just allow him to play games – as Aston Villa did with former Republic of Ireland and Manchester United hero McGrath in the 1990s – to keep him going.
“It’s a concern,” he said of Willis’ injury. “He has a sporadic patella tendonitis which can come on at different times.
“He reminds me a bit of Paul McGrath, if you remember he had to do nothing [in training] and then just play.
“You can’t do that forever, but while Tom Flanagan is out and we are a bit short in that area, we have to nurse it as best we can.”
Sunderland are stretched in central defence with Flanagan missing due to a broken metatarsal, while summer signing Arbenit Xhemajli is out for the season with knee ligament damage.
