Page 15 - 364645 LP243221 A Love Supreme 48pp A5 Aug22

is a leader but does have his injury niggles, Carl Winchester is what the club needed to get out of League One, Conor McLaughlin ended up with injury problems, Tom Flanagan was steady but unspectacular, Kyle Lafferty was a short-term impact sub and Will Grigg? Well, on paper he was the right man but as we’ve all seen, his whole Sunderland affair was a bit of a farce.
But what about Ballard the day-to-day footballer? What about his club performances? An Arsenal academy graduate, Ballard was loaned to Swindon Town, then in League Two, for the 2019-20 season. However, a serious knee injury in his third game curtailed that loan as he returned to Arsenal for treatment and recovery.
in the summer of 2021. Ultimately, it was Millwall who secured his signature for a season-long loan. Ballard was attracted by the positive dressing room (knowing two Northern Ireland internationals there already), the passionate fanbase and the fortress of a home ground that opposition didn’t like playing at.
Ballard’s season at Millwall was reasonably successful in terms of individual progress: regular football at Championship level and a team edging into the top half of the table. Northern Ireland fans started to wonder if Ballard would look to try his luck at Arsenal the following season.
However, as with the previous summer, interest gathered and Arsenal knew that they could cash in on an international player who was likely to get little more than the occasional spot on the bench. Burnley were the first to make a move, only for that to fall flat at the eleventh hour. In swooped Sunderland and a permanent three-year deal was done.
I see Daniel Ballard as a player who gets fully immersed in a team, the fans, the set-up. No short- terms gains with this fella, not following the money (could easily have sat on Arsenal’s bench this season or played some token EFL Trophy games) but one that wants a proper career with progression year-on-year. I suspect Ballard will settle well and he knows himself that with the pulling power Sunderland can have in the transfer market, he could continue his track record of playing in a better team than the season before.
Shortly after his Northern Ireland debut, interest gathered once more in Ballard and this time Blackpool, then in League One, came calling for a loan spell. Initially signing until January 2021, the deal was soon extended to the end of the season. Building on his regular international involvement along with regular club football, Ballard became
a mainstay of a Blackpool team that improved month on month, culminating in promotion to the Championship as play-off winners. A remarkable second half to the season, considering The Seasiders were twelfth with fifteen games to go.
Naturally Blackpool wanted to keep Ballard for a second season on loan, but his stock had risen so there were a number of offers on the table for him
ALOVESUPREME
ISSUE259
15
BY NIAL COULTER