Watmore made his return to football with Sunderland’s Under-23 side on Monday.
Jermaine Defoe has sent a heartfelt message to Sunderland attacker Duncan Watmore after the injury-prone forward made his long-awaited return to football with the Black Cats’ reserve side.
Watmore, 24, has not played a single match since suffering a second anterior cruciate ligament injury against Millwall in November 2017. He has now been out of action for more than a year.
That injury came after doing the same in December 2016, which ruled him out until October 2017. Just a month after his first return, the same injury struck.
Now, Watmore looks to be on the comeback trail once again and his former Sunderland teammate Defoe applauded the versatile attacker – stating that it was “great to see” Watmore return to action.
Watmore lasted just under an hour for Sunderland’s Under-23 side as they suffered a disappointing 3-1 loss to local rivals Middlesbrough at home. Watmore himself missed a penalty after just 22 minutes.
It is likely that Watmore will be given more game time with Sunderland’s second string before returning to the first team under Jack Ross – who currently sit in second place after 19 matches in League One – losing only one league game.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
