Sunderland midfielder Duncan Watmore will make his first appearance for over a year this week after recovering from a cruciate knee ligament injury.
It could be said that the return of a League One footballer from injury isn’t always newsworthy, but there’s a reason people are talking about Watmore.
Sunderland manager Jack Ross has confirmed the 24-year-old will “get some game time” in Tuesday’s Checkatrade Trophy meeting with Notts County.
Watmore will be hoping to stay fit and add to an already intriguing list of milestones both on and off the pitch.
Here are the most interesting life events Watmore has experienced so far.
Released by Man United
Watmore’s first club was Manchester United, which is perhaps indicative of his talent from a young age. However, he was released by the Red Devils at the age of 12 and joined Altrincham.
After loan spells with Clitheroe and Curzon Ashton, Watmore was eventually picked up by Sunderland in 2013.
As a child he was always likely to go into football in some way. His father is former Football Association chief executive Ian Watmore, who left the FA in 2010 and recently departed his role on the EFL board as an Independent Non-Executive Director.
Toulon tournament joy with Southgate
In 2015, Watmore was part of the England Under-21 side that won the Toulon Tournament for the first time in 22 years.
Gareth Southgate was the manager at the time, and Watmore must have been a player earmarked for the future of the senior national team. If not for injuries, who knows if Southgate would be considering him right now?
Watmore scored a total of three goals in 13 appearances for the Under-21s but hasn’t played international football in over two years.
Economics degree
A few months after winning the Toulon Tournament, Watmore completed an economics degree at Newcastle University with first-class honours – not your everyday achievement for a footballer.
According to the Guardian, he was given time off Sunderland training by then-manager Sam Allardyce to collect the degree. Inevitably, Watmore didn’t escape a bit of teammate banter.
“You get a bit of good-natured banter but they are class,” he said. “I received a lot of support from them, which was really nice.”
Compared to Gareth Bale
When Watmore first broke into the Sunderland first team he received plenty of plaudits for his energetic, direct style.
He seemed to be equally comfortable out wide or central, and that led to Jermain Defoe comparing the youngster to his former Tottenham teammate Gareth Bale.
According to BBC Sport, Defoe said: “In a funny way he reminds me of Gareth. When he came on the scene at Tottenham, he used to just get the ball and glide.
“If he can go on to do what Gareth has done then he’ll be fantastic. He’s the future of this club.”
Real Madrid sympathise with double knee blow
From the dressing room to match, we followed Duncan Watmore on his comeback and found out exactly what it means to him to be back on the pitch…
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Full video
— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) November 27, 2018
Just weeks after returning from a long lay-off with a knee problem, Watmore suffered a similar injury in December 2017 and hasn’t played since.
For reasons unknown other than simply being a nice thing to do, Real Madrid picked up on the news and decided to send Watmore a letter of support.
Signed by Real director Emilio Butragueno, the letter read (via BBC Sport): “On behalf of our president, Florentino Perez, and those who work for Real Madrid, we would like to wish you a smooth and speedy recovery from your knee injury.”
Watmore’s father labelled the letter “a total surprise but what an incredible gesture from a very classy club.”
Boat rescue hero
While recovering from the first of his two knee injuries in Barbados, Watmore was forced to return to physical action sooner than expected – but not on a football pitch.
According to BBC News, Watmore was on board a fishing boat that was torn in two by a catamaran, sending three elderly passengers into the water.
The footballer hauled all three to safety, even using his T-shirt as a tourniquet to stop a passenger’s leg bleeding.
Watmore’s father, who was also present, said: “All the guests were coming up to him and telling him what a hero he was and I think the whole thing was just very disorientating for him.”
The post Duncan Watmore: One of League One’s most interesting players is finally set for Sunderland comeback appeared first on Squawka News.
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