Thorben Hoffmann missed Sunderland's defeat at Cheltenham due to illness, it has been confirmed.
The on-loan Bayern Munich goalkeeper was a surprise absentee at Whaddon Road, with no information given by the club ahead of time that he would not feature, and with backup Lee Burge also out of action, academy graduate Anthony Patterson started against the Robins with Jacob Carney promoted from the U23s as back-up.
Hoffmann's absence led to speculation on social media that he had been recalled by Bayern as cover for their injured number one Manuel Neuer - but that was a non-starter, given that the transfer window is currently closed.
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And following the game interim boss Mike Dodds said that Hoffmann, who contracted Covid at the beginning of January, had undergone blood tests to diagnose this latest problem.
"Thorben has not gone back to Germany, I can confirm that," said Dodds.
"We felt that Anthony Patterson had trained really, really well so I don't want to take the focus away from him, an academy boy who had earned that opportunity to play and who deserved the opportunity to play.
"Unfortunately Hoff he has been for some blood tests, and we're just waiting on the results of that."
Also missing at Cheltenham was Lynden Gooch, with the forward left back on Wearside due to a calf problem sustained in the weekend defeat against Doncaster Rovers.
Dodds said: "Lynden picked up a little bit of a knock in Saturday's game.
"He trained on Monday but it was still feeling tight, so we decided to leave him out."
Whether either, or both, will be fit for this weekend's game at AFC Wimbledon remains to be seen.
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