Jack Ross has confirmed that Joel Lynch and Laurens De Bock will both be involved for Sunderland's under-23 side against Middlesbrough tonight.

Both players joined Sunderland in the summer and are working on their fitness after they did not take part in the club's pre-season.

The Sunderland boss revealed that he will be going to watch the game himself to keep an eye on both players, who he confirmed will not be involved for the League One clash with Rotherham at the Stadium of Light tomorrow night.

"Joel and Laurens will be playing tonight and I'll be going along to watch them," said Ross, as quoted by Chronicle Live.

"They won't be in the squad for tomorrow night but, all being well, Joel could be in the squad on Saturday. We are hoping he will play 90 minutes but we'll just see how we gets on tonight and how much of the game he gets through.

"Joel is certainly ahead of Laurens in terms of general fitness,  he has played in a bounce game for us as well so he is a bit closer to being in the first team squad, whereas Laurens is perhaps another week behind him."

Left-back De Bock joined Sunderland on a season-long loan from Leeds United on transfer deadline day, while centre-back Lynch joined on a free transfer earlier in the window after he was released by QPR.

Sunderland are currently fifth in League One after winning four of their opening seven matches and are looking for back-to-back wins against Rotherham at the Stadium of Light tomorrow evening.

The Verdict

This is good news for Sunderland. Lynch and De Bock are both good players and they could both turn out to be decent signings for Sunderland this season.

This latest update from Ross suggests that they are not that far away from featuring for the first team, which will come as a welcome boost to the Black Cats as they hope to challenge for promotion to the Championship.

Both players will probably feel that they have a point to prove and will be determined to impress for the under-23s tonight knowing that Ross will be watching.