The Black Cats signed Reinildo as a free agent earlier this summer following the end of his contract at Atletico Madrid, but the left-back has not featured in any of Sunderland’s pre-season games so far this summer.
The 31-year-old was given an extended break after playing for Atletico in the Club World Cup in the United States, and while he has now begun training at the Academy of Light, Le Bris is in no hurry to select him for a friendly.
His summer involvement with Atletico means he has retained a decent level of match fitness, removing the need to give him a full pre-season programme.
“We are still taking our time with him [Reinildo] because he finished so late with Atletico Madrid,” said Le Bris. “We gave him three weeks to recover from that properly – now, we will build things progressively with him.
“We are not in a rush with him because it is not as though he has had a long break. There is no rush for him to play in the squad right now. He has to be ready for the first weekend of the season – that is all we are really focusing on with him.”
Having performed reasonably impressively in their matches with Sevilla and Sporting CUP during their Portuguese training camp, Sunderland were comprehensively outplayed as they lost 3-0 at Hearts last weekend.
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There were mitigating factors for the defeat at Tynecastle – Hearts’ players are much deeper into their pre-season schedule as they prepare to start the Scottish Premier League season this weekend – but Le Bris nevertheless conceded that his players’ intensity levels and work-rate were well below what will be required when the real action begins with a home game against West Ham in less than three weeks’ time.
The Sunderland boss wants to see a marked improvement in effort and intensity as the pre-season schedule continues, starting with tonight’s game at Hull’s MKM Stadium.
“The main point now is to sharpen up the competitive side of our game,” he said. “You could see that was what was missing [against Hearts]. We have to get used to playing against teams with high intensity again.
“Our tactics and our management of the squad is getting better, I have no problem with that. But now, it is a question of lifting the level of the players to be able to perform, with an extra 20, 40 maybe even 60 per cent in terms of intensity, work-rate and that side of the game. This is the next question we have to address.”
While Reinildo is yet to feature in pre-season, Sunderland’s five other summer signings were all involved at Hearts at the weekend and Le Bris is happy with the way they have settled into things.
“They are creating new connections with each other,” he said. “They seem happy with the squad and the environment. But, as a footballer, you have to be happy on the pitch and we have to get to a level where we are ready for the first game.
“Saturday was good for us in that respect. You have to play against different styles of play to test yourself and the squad, so that was an important step with that.”
