Bailey Wright's future at Sunderland looks uncertain, but Lee Johnson is relieved to have him back in contention, with the defender expected to be involved in their penultimate friendly against Tranmere Rovers on Tuesday evening.
Johnson, who knows Wright well from when he played under him at Bristol City, spoke of his faith in the centre back in an interview with the Sunderland Echo.
He said: "I don't think the new ownership have seen the best of Bailey Wright, in terms of, he's got to do better than the last ten games of last season. At the same time, he can, and he was a real warrior in that time because he'd been out for nine or ten weeks and then came in and had about ten games on the spin.
The 28-year-old has not featured since the club's 2-2 draw with Spennymoor Town at the beginning of pre-season, having been ruled out with a groin problem.
With his importance to the squad Johnson was not taking any chances, now bringing him back in for the penultimate friendly is good timing, eased into what is expected to be mainly a second string eleven. As the prospect of Wigan Athletic's visit to the Stadium of Light on August 7 looms large, Wright needs to hit the ground running.