Cats ace reveals summer plan

David Meyler is looking to get his Sunderland career back on track as he prepares to embark on a first full pre-season in four years.

The 23-year-old Irishman has been blighted by injury problems since arriving from Cork City in the summer of 2008, including two lengthy knee injury lay-offs, while he was restricted to just one start last season and several substitute appearances. Meyler blames his lack of action on the fact he has struggled to prepare properly for the past three seasons, so he is looking to build up his fitness levels under the leadership of Martin O'Neill this summer. Meyler told the Echo: "I haven't had a proper pre-season in four years, since the first one I signed for Sunderland. Even when Steve Bruce took over, his first pre-season I got injured through it - hurt my ankle in a tackle. It is so hard to play catch up if you miss it. "When you come back from an injury, you start running, then you join in with the reserves. That's tough and then it's even tougher when you join in with the first-team. "It's harder again when you get to a reserve team game and the pinnacle of the lot is a Premier League game. Lots of players struggle there, never mind if you've been out eight or nine months. "To come back and reach that level of fitness and to be able to compete in a game of that calibre is tough."