JOHN O’SHEA and Seb Larsson will make their first pre-season appearances for Sunderland this afternoon, having returned to training at the start of the week.

The international duo were given an extended break following their involvement at this summer’s European Championships, but have joined up with their domestic team-mates at the Black Cats’ training camp in France.

They sat out this week’s opening two friendlies against Stade Nyonnais and Dijon FCO, but will be named in the Black Cats’ squad for today’s final game against Montpellier HSC.

O’Shea faces a battle to dislodge Lamine Kone, who continues to be heavily linked with a possible move to Leicester City or Everton, or Younes Kaboul from Sunderland’s preferred starting XI, while Larsson will hope to force his way back into first-team contention having been a peripheral figure for most of the second half of last season.

“John and Seb joined the squad on Sunday, and the plan is to get them some minutes on Saturday against Montpellier,” said Sunderland coach Robbie Stockdale. “Both players are naturally fit, but with summer tournaments and a later return date, the recovery period is as important as the work period so they’ve had three days with the sports science department and then three days with the team before playing.”

O’Shea remains Sunderland’s club captain, and his relationship with the club’s new boss, David Moyes, will be crucial in the early weeks of the new season.

Having spent the last week running the rule over the players he inherited from Sam Allardyce, Moyes will spend the start of next week attempting to make some much-needed progress in the transfer market from his new base at the Academy of Light.

The former Everton and Manchester United boss continues to be linked with potential moves for Marouane Fellaini and Adnan Januzaj, and O’Shea is confident he will build on the progress made under Allardyce to help drive Sunderland up the Premier League table next season.

“The new manager has a fantastic pedigree, and I saw a stat that he’s third or fourth-highest in terms of all-time Premier League wins, so we have a manager who knows how to win football matches,” said O’Shea.

“I’ve had very tough games against his teams in the past, and although he hasn’t had much time with the group yet, he’s been getting his ideas across.”

Moyes is expected to name Charles N’Zogbia in the starting line-up to face Montpellier, before making a final decision over whether to hand the winger a permanent contract.

N’Zogbia was invited to train with the Black Cats by Allardyce following the end of his previous contract at Aston Villa, and scored Sunderland’s winner in their recent friendly at Rotherham.

Meanwhile, former Sunderland midfielder Andy Reid has announced his retirement from football after two injury-hit years at Nottingham Forest.