TONY Mowbray hopes Isaac Lihadji can make an impact for Sunderland in the second half of the season - but the youngster might have to sit out of the game at Millwall.

Sunderland are still going through the process of getting the 20-year-old registered to play, with a meeting scheduled to take place on Friday afternoon.

Lihadji, who joined from Lille on a permanent deal in the last week of the window, travelled to London with the squad for last week's FA Cup tie at Fulham even though he couldn't play.

And, depending on the outcome of Friday's meeting, Mowbray will decide whether Lihadji should follow the rest of the squad to the capital ahead of Saturday's Millwall clash.

Mowbray said: "He would have come today to be around the team. He came to Fulham.

"I think he has a meeting at 2:30 today to get a work permit or something like that. I'm not sure he's fully certificated up to come and play at the moment.

"He might be from half past two and then we have to decide whether we stick him on a train and get him to London or leave it until next weekend."

Pressed on when Lihadji and fellow January signing Joe Anderson will be ready to feature, Mowbray said: "It's important that they get a feel of the group, the team, matchday and the messages that we have in terms of how we want to play.

"Circumstances will dictate when they're involved."

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Lihadji arrived on Wearside with quite the pedigree, having played 39 times for Lille's first team, including 21 appearances during their 2020/21 Ligue 1 title-winning campaign.

A France international from Under-16 to Under-21s, he played three times in last season's Champions League.

The youngster is most at home playing off the striker, an area where Sunderland are well stocked, but Mowbray knows the importance of squad depth.

He said: "Where's Lihadji going to fit? He likes to play off the right with his left foot and yet we've got Patrick Roberts and Amad Diallo. Can Patrick play every game? We have three games a week, if we do well in the cup we'll have another game

"It's a lot of football to play. Like I always say, fill your club up with good footballers."