Striker set for action

Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill has guaranteed striker Connor Wickham will get his chance to shine in pre-season.

The former Ipswich Town striker has had a difficult season after moving to the club last summer for a whopping £8m and has barely featured. A succession of injury problems have kept him out of the side and there has been speculation that he may return to Suffolk on loan but O'Neill says he will get his chance before the start of next season. He told the Chronicle: "It has been very difficult for Connor because since I have been here it has been stop-start for him. "It is as much to do with injuries as anything else. "I am quite sure Connor would benefit from a real run in the team. "That is something, because of the nature of our position in December, January and a good part of February, we could not afford, that luxury of allowing players to play four or five games to bed themselves in."