T&T and Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones has returned on the weekend after being given compassionate leave to attend a family funeral.

The 24-year-old was given permission to make the trip on Sunday and will stay in Trinidad until next weekend to attend the funeral of a family member.

Jones, who is in the final stage of his recovery from knee ligament damage, will be accompanied on the trip by a club physio and will train with his T&T team-mates as they prepare for their 2010 Concacaf World Cup qualifiers against Guatemala and the USA.

Manager Roy Keane told the club’s official website: "There has been a death in his family and he has gone over with our best wishes.

"One of our medical staff has traveled with him to make sure his recovery goes to plan because every day is vital at this stage.

"Kenwyne will be back next weekend and hopefully, then he will have a good week’s training with the first team and after that, he will look for a reserve game."

Jones suffered his injury in a collision with keeper David James in his country’s friendly clash with England on June 1.

However, tests showed he did not need an operation and Keane is hopeful of having him available again within weeks.

Keane will welcome the extra competition for places his £6million signing’s return will bring after the summer arrivals of Djibril Cisse and El-Hadji Diouf.

Jones will train alongside fellow ‘Black Cat’ and ‘Soca Warriors’ captain Dwight Yorke, who was selected for the squad for the qualifiers and the friendly against the Dominican Republic tomorrow.