One of Sunderland's most creative outlets will not be seen until 2022 as Aiden McGeady has been sidelined for at least the next eight weeks, Lee Johnson has confirmed.

The Republic of Ireland international did not start the Black Cats' encounter earlier in the week against Shrewsbury Town but he was introduced on 74 minutes and picked up a knee problem in his cameo appearance.

McGeady has had his issues this year, notably in pre-season when he had to have injections for tendinitis but he's managed to stay fit for the majority of the current campaign, missing just four league matches with one of them for suspension.

Head coach Johnson dropped the bombshell ahead of tomorrow's away encounter with Cambridge United at the Abbey Stadium, and it'll be a minimum of eight weeks before the 35-year-old is back on the pitch.

That could stretch to 12 weeks though depending on McGeady's speed of recovery, which means it could be February before the veteran returns to action to assist Sunderland's attempted promotion push.

The Verdict

Even though McGeady hasn't been in his best form this season, when he's sparkling he's still one of the best wingers in League One.

There weren't many full-backs that he didn't turn inside out in 2020-21 but despite struggling to replicate that recently, he can be a match-winner and Sunderland will miss that for the next couple of months at least.

And on recent form, they perhaps don't have enough to cope with the loss of the Irishman as aside from a win over Ipswich on Saturday, results have been on the down-turn.

There will be no rush to get McGeady back though considering his age and the type of injury that it is - let's just hope that the Black Cats are still pushing for automatic promotion when he does indeed come back into contention.