Sunderland and Wales rising star Niall Huggins opens up on two-year injury hell

Niall Huggins is determined to make up for lost time after a two-year injury “nightmare”.

tea Sunderland The 22-year-old full-back has suffered career-threatening injuries including a stress fracture in his back and a mystery injury that has left him with weak bones.

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But the new arrival from Wales has made his first major call-up Robert Page’s lineup ahead of the qualifiers with Armenia Turkey, which could take the Dragons to Euro 2024, is keen to move on.

Huggins, who was named Goal of the Month in the tournament for October, had to take injections every morning for three months to strengthen his bones and solve the problem.

The full-back who joined Sunderland from Leeds In 2021, he said: “The last two seasons have been a nightmare. It’s been horrible and terrible.

“I’ve only made 16 professional starts and I’m almost 23 years old.

“When I first joined Sunderland, I suffered a stress fracture in my back, which kept me out for four or five months.

“I felt 100% that my career was in danger.

“It got to the point where every time I was doing rehab, the first few steps back on the turf, there was always in the back of my mind: ‘Will this happen again?’

“The years go into the decade and you worry about that.

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“My body struggled to get to the impact of matches so I was suffering from smaller muscle injuries.

“When I was doing rehab, I had problems with the back of my knee.

“We struggled to get to the bottom of it. All the tests we did, nothing came up.

“It was just that the bones were weak, which made it difficult. I literally feel like I’m starting my professional career.”

Injuries limited the York-born defender to just four appearances for Sunderland last season.

Huggins, whose father was born in Bangor, played one Premier League match Leeds under the leadership of Marcelo Bielsa against Arsenal In the Emirates, but he impressed with the Black Cats this season.

Huggins, who played for Wales Under-21s, added: “I’ve had a full, proper season which is massive for me.

“When I finally started to get back into shape, it helped me a lot mentally. It’s still hard to look back. You feel like you’ve wasted so much time.

“But I feel really good and I’m playing the best football I’ve ever played.

“We had a couple of injuries and that allowed me to play. I started the last 11 games and now I feel the best I have ever been.

“I’ve always been confident but in the last couple of years I’ve struggled to show it.

“This is the first year where I can really show what I can do and what level I can play at. And getting called up to the first team shows that even more.”