The 31-year-old Masuaku made his first appearance for Sunderland in the second round of the 2025/26 English League Cup, playing the full 90 minutes. The defender said in an interview that he hopes to adapt to the team as quickly as possible and bring a winning mentality.

In the English League Cup against Huddersfield Town, Sunderland equalized with Marc Gew's goal after being ahead, but eventually lost 5-6 to their opponents in the penalty shootout and failed to advance to the next round.

Masuaku said: "This is my first game in two months. I trained with the team directly without going through the pre-season, but I felt good. Although it is disappointing to lose the game, from a personal point of view, I played well. It feels good to be able to play on the court with my teammates."

"I've been waiting for this moment. I played against Sunderland back in 2016 when I was playing for West Ham and the atmosphere was great. The fans have been behind us and it's been great. Hopefully we can beat Brentford in the next game."

In addition, when talking about his future goals, Masuaku also said, "This is a great club and I enjoy it very much. I have been training hard and just want to keep going. Whether I can play in the game is decided by the coach, but I will continue to do my best in training, strive to integrate into the team, and bring the determination to win."