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A setback in the Bolton game, which turned out to be a cartilage tear, ruled him out for the rest of the season other than an appearance in the penultimate reserve game against Manchester United.
It will be a massive boost to have him back fit in the team and he could now be joined by his namesake Gavin who is being linked with us having been released by Bolton Wanderers.
The Blackpool born midfielder started his career with Everton but signed for Sunderland during their promotion season of 1998/99 and made a big impact at the Stadium of Light during the next two seasons when they finished high in the Premier League.
He cost Sunderland boss Peter Reid £500,000, but when he left Sunderland for Aston Villa in the summer of 2003 his value had risen to £2.25 million. By that time he'd been capped by England in a friendly against Spain, ironically at Villa Park.
His time with Villa was interrupted by injury but he proved to be as popular with the fans there as he'd been at Sunderland, with his tough tackling, no nonsense approach.
The summer of 2007 saw him become one of Sammy Lee's recruits at Bolton and again he proved his worth and was considered by Lee's successor Gary Megson of playing the football of his life.
A change of manager at Bolton in January of this year changed things and he hasn't featured for their first team since the first month of the year, and he's now, at 32, being rumoured to be on his way to Burnley and he tackles and harrasses, he's better than Zidane.