Sunderland's latest signing Joel Lynch will undergo a mini pre-season in the next couple of weeks with a view to being up to speed after the international break, according to Jack Ross.
Centre-back Lynch signed for Sunderland on Monday as a free agent after leaving QPR this summer and, aside from a spell on trial at Sheffield United in July, he has missed out on the usual pre-season fitness work that players complete in advance of a new season.
Ross says Lynch is currently putting in that work now and, while he will not figure in Saturday's trip to Peterborough United, Sunderland then have a fortnight without a game after their game at Burton Albion a week on Saturday postponed due to international call-ups.
The plan is for Lynch to feature in one or more behind-closed-doors games during the international break, and Ross says he expects the 31-year-old to be in contention to play at first-team level when Sunderland resume their League One campaign at Accrington Stanley on September 14.
"Joel has obviously not done a lot of training," said Ross.
"He did a little bit of pre-season with Sheffield United early on but since then he's been training on his own so he's a little bit behind.
"He will effectively do a mini pre-season in between working with me, and I would expect him to be ready after the international break.
"So it’s going to take a couple of weeks and a bit of work before he is ready.
"We have got a behind-closed-doors game scheduled for next week after the Peterborough match, and then we may get another one in as well so that will help not only him but also the other players to keep ticking over as well."
Lynch was brought in to add another central defensive option, in an area of the squad where the Black Cats already have Jordan Willis , Alim Ozturk , Tom Flanagan , and Jack Baldwin , while Conor McLaughlin is also capable of playing in that role.
