Sunderland man named fourth most injured top flight player in last 3 years; can you guess who?

Despite not playing in the Premier League this term, Sunderland’s Bryan Oviedo is the second most injury prone player to have featured in the top-flight in the past three seasons.

Since the beginning of the 2014-15 campaign, the Costa Rican full back missed 454 days-worth of action through injury according to figures compiled by SickNote which were published in The Sun yesterday

Only West Brom’s Jay Rodriguez (549 days), Stoke’s Stephen Ireland (494) and Liverpool’s Jon Flanagan (492) were laid off for longer than the former Everton defender.

Italian international Emanuele Giaccherini lays claim to being the most injured Sunderland player since 2014 during his short stint at the Stadium of Light - missing 219 days largely due to a recurring ankle problem, combined with a groin injury in 2014/15.

The midfielder had signed for £6.5m from Juventus in 2013 and after a disappointing spell in the Premier League was eventually sold to Napoli for £1.25m in the summer of 2016. Giaccherini has barely played in Serie A this season, his outings limited to occasional appearances from the bench and he only featured 16 times last term.

Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images

Oviedo suffered terrible luck with injuries during his Everton career and only played 60 Premier League games in five years after signing from FC Copenhagen.

A fracture in 2013/14 ruled the defender out for six months then on his return the following season, Oviedo suffered a hamstring injury then a damaged metatarsal in his right foot picked up in training.

2015/16 brought more of the same with a thigh injury causing Oviedo to miss nine games in that campaign for Everton and a hamstring problem meant the full-back was absent from much of Sunderland's relegation run-in through April into May last season.

In fact, Oviedo has been unavailable for selection through injury for something like thirty percent of the league games played since he moved to England - a significant amount for a full-back.

But the 27-year-old has enjoyed a decent run of fitness so far this term and has started each of Sunderland’s last 10 Championship games. Oviedo was in action for Costa Rica last night and came through thirty minutes unscathed as a second half substitute.

Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images

The Costa Ricans had been hoping to set themselves up for the run in to next summer’s World Cup with a couple of decent displays against Spain and Hungary but lost both games 5-0 and 1-0 respectively.

Oviedo played at left-back against the Spanish and featured in an unfamiliar wide right position in midfield when he came on against the Hungarians last night. With yesterday’s game being played in Europe, the Sunderland player has put a short hop back to England to ready himself for Saturday’s clash against Millwall.