With Chris Rigg potentially out, it feels like it could be a big few weeks for Adil Aouchiche and his Sunderland career.
Until recently, the Frenchman had barely featured, however he has made four appearances in our last six off the bench, including an assist against Bristol City. It always felt strange to me how he just vanished from the squad, despite a relatively positive pre-season. Rumours suggested that their may have been a falling out between him and Le Bris when they worked together at Lorient, which could potentially be the reason for his lack of game time.
We have also had a pretty steady midfield for the majority of the season, with Dan Neil, Jobe Bellingham and of course Rigg being RLB’s preferred trio, with Alan Browne rotating in and out prior to his injury. That injury is probably what brought Aouchiche back into the frame, with our only other options being Milan Aleksic, who is still getting settled at the club, as well as Harrison Jones, who will likely head out on loan in January.
Aouchiche has been tipped to potentially leave the club when the window opens in under a weeks’ time, alongside the likes of Abdoullah Ba, Nazariy Rusyn and Jewison Bennette, who have all rarely featured this campaign. For me I think that could very well change based on our next two/three games.
With so few options, it feels almost certain we will see Adil feature more regularly in the short term, which gives him the opportunity to stake his claim for that void in our midfield and potentially get into a bit of form and even put himself in the shop window. He also offers us versatility, with him being used at times on the left wing this season, with Mayenda our only fit player on that side (in which it is not even his natural position) he could even offer us a different option there.
I quite like Aouchiche and think he should be getting more opportunities than he is, and I do feel like the next couple of weeks will define his Sunderland future, will it be redemption, or will it be a return to France on loan or even permanently?
