Niall Huggins has effectively been ruled out for the remainder of the season with Alex Neil revealing the young defender has picked up a 'bizarre' injury during his rehab follwing a back problem. The 21-year-old defender has made just four appearances for the club and has not played since the end of September, with then-boss Lee Johnson explaining that the summer signing had suffered a stress fracture of the back.
That issue was originally expected to keep him out until January, but a setback in December meant that timescale was extended to March. But Johnson's successor Neil has now explained that former Leeds United man Huggins has suffered a heel injury, and he does not expect him to figure in Sunderland's play-off campaign.
"Unfortunately, Niall has got a really strange injury - it's highly unusual," said Neil. "He's basically damaged his heel doing his rehab coming back [from the back injury]. It was not through contact - I don't know exactly what it is, it's a really bizarre injury.
