Turner in awe of Brown

Wes Brown: Michael Turner delighted to be playing alongside such a successful team-mate

Sunderland defender Michael Turner is relishing playing alongside Wes Brown following his return from injury.

The ex-Hull City defender has started the Black Cats' last five games alongside the former England international, who made his name during more than 10 seasons at Manchester United.

Brown has won five Premier League titles, two FA Cups, three League Cups and two UEFA Champions League winners' medals, a feat not lost on Turner.

Turner is relishing playing alongside such a successful defender and he believes the pair are playing well together at the heart of Steve Bruce's backline.

Respect

"Wes has had a great career at Manchester United and he's won pretty much everything and all the lads have got huge respect for what he's done," Turner told the club's official website.

"For me personally it's obviously nice and a great feeling to play alongside someone like that who's achieved so many great things.

"Obviously he's changed his direction now having left Man Utd and he's got a new focus now so we're all learning together in this new environment.

"The partnership is slowly getting better and we're learning to play with each other.

"We conceded a couple of early goals in the first few games which was obviously disappointing for the team but generally as a partnership we've grown over the weeks and I'm sure that if we continue playing together we'll get stronger."