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Ki Sung-Yueng looks to have played his final game for Sunderland.

The on-loan Swansea City midfielder has sat out the Black Cats’ last three games due to tendonitis and is unlikely to be fit for the remainder of the season.

Sunderland boss Gus Poyet has revealed the South Korea international has been suffering with the knee problem for some time, but recently visited a specialist who advised him to rest the injury.

Poyet said: “Ki has been to see a specialist in London who has confirmed it is tendonitis of the knee and needs to be treated carefully.

“It is not something which has come on suddenly, he has had a problem with it for a while.

“He had been playing through it but it slowly got worse and now I really don’t know if it will be possible for him to play again for us.

“We will hope for the best and we will see.”

Sunderland visit Manchester United on Saturday before rounding their season off with home games against West Bromwich Albion a week on Wednesday and then Swansea the following Sunday.

Ki is almost certainly out of the next two games, while Premier League loan rules mean he could not play against his parent club on the final day even if he was fit.

Poyet added: “We have to be careful with him.

“If it was a more straightforward injury like an ankle, for example, we might take a risk, have an injection or whatever, but when it is muscle tissue like the tendons you are always wary.

“So we will leave it to him. If he feels ready at any stage, we will involve him.”

Despite Poyet’s refusal to rule Ki out of the run-in entirely, he is very unlikely to figure.

If Ki has played his final game in a Sunderland shirt, the 25-year-old can hold his head high after making a major contribution to the Black Cats’ season.

He has scored three goals in 27 league appearances for the club, including the winner from the penalty spot at Everton on Boxing Day. Perhaps his most memorable moment came in the Capital One Cup quarter-final against Chelsea at the Stadium of Light.

His winning goal in extra-time earned the Wearsiders a semi-final date with Manchester United – and ultimately a trip to Wembley for the final.