Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce has given Emmanuel Eboue another week to prove his fitness as the Ivory Coast international aims to secure a short-term contract on Wearside.
“By next week we’ll take a view and give a him a decision. It was about getting him fit, because he hadn’t played for so long.”
Eboue has been training at the Academy of Light over the past few weeks in the hope of getting back into football after leaving Galatasaray last summer. The Black Cats have been training in Dubai at a training facility with the squad enjoying the sun in a more relaxed environment. Eboue however, stayed in the north-east with a fitness coach as he gets match-ready, with the former Arsenal man set to play in a behind-closed-doors friendly next week.
“We didn’t take him to Dubai with us because he could do more here, morning and afternoon sessions with the fitness coaches while the lads were only doing morning sessions out in the heat of Dubai.
“We’ll play him in a game behind-closed-doors next week and then make a decision from there, but if he is fit enough he is going to be good enough.”
Big Sam was eager to sign a right-back in the January transfer market but failed in bids to bring in Arsenal’s ex-Newcastle United defender Mathieu Debuchy on loan and Lamine Gassamma from Lorient.
