Former Sunderland assistant reveals why Jack Rodwell was exiled | OneFootball

During his peak in his young 20s, Jack Rodwell looked set to become one of England’s brightest talents.

However, after a successful stint at Everton, he barely featured at Manchester City during his two-year spell at the club and signed a five-year deal with Sunderland in 2014.

Rodwell failed to make the grade at Sunderland and had his contract terminated in June 2018 after not making a single appearance from September 2017 on.

Now, Chris Coleman’s assistant Kit Symons has revealed why Rodwell did not get his chance to prove himself.

“That first day I went up there, for the Millwall game, Jonny [Williams] got injured, Duncan [Watmore] got injured and there were a few other knocks,” explained Symons.

“The next day we went into training and Jack was there and me and Chris were watching him.

“He’s a good size, a good physique, he moves well and me and Chris knew all the stories, but thought ‘he’s starting on Tuesday’ when we had Aston Villa at Villa Park.

“It was a light Sunday session and with about five minutes to go he walks off the training pitch holding his hamstring.

“Nobody has got to more than a jog during the training session, and we never saw him again after that.

“He played two games for the reserves. He was just out injured for ages and he was never available to play.

“He was brilliant at Everton as a kid. He didn’t play that much at Manchester City and had a lot of injuries, to be fair.

“And then he had a terrible record, a terrible time at Sunderland. There are always two sides to every story. He’ll have his side to it.

“But we came in, we didn’t care about what had gone on in the past, we just wanted people to help the club and keep us in the Championship.

“We needed people who wanted to help us, and Jack didn’t do that.”

And there you have it, folks. We’ll all patiently wait for Rodwell’s side of the story.

Rodwell was last seen at Blackburn Rovers and was on trial with AS Roma this year, but didn’t make the grade.