Daniel Ballard's story to Premier League performer is inspiring, says Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill

The central defender has made five appearances in the Premier League for Sunderland so far this term and would have been more if it hadn’t been for an injury picked up in August.

Ballard was on the books at Arsenal as a young player but failed to make the breakthrough at the London-based club, with loan spells at Swindon Town, Blackpool and Millwall being added to his CV.

With no clear route to the first-team at the Emirates, the 26-year-old joined Sunderland in 2022 when they were in the Championship and helped the Black Cats secure promotion back to the bright lights of the Premier League via the play-offs last May.

Ballard scored on his Premier League debut against West Ham and was a used substitute last weekend in the 2-0 defeat at Manchester United.

Commenting on Ballard’s journey from those loan spells in League One to rubbing shoulder with the game’s elite, O’Neill said: "It's a great story because Daniel epitomises how you should react to disappointment in football," he said.

"He obviously had the disappointment at Arsenal but his reaction to that and how he's played his way up through from Blackpool and Millwall on loan and then to Sunderland.

"We thought about buying him at Stoke but he was too expensive for us at that time so we weren't able to do that deal.

"The most important thing is that you have belief in yourself that you can get to that level and Daniel has had that.

"We have players at the minute who are out on loan and are on a similar journey and it's not all plain sailing.

"The loan doesn't always go well and Daniel would have had up and down periods in his loans as well, so I think it's great to see him get to this level - he deserves it.

“So sometimes I think maybe when you play through the leagues you really appreciate that you're now in the Premier League and you're not going to let it slip because you've seen the other side of the game.”

Fellow international Callum Marshall made his Premier League bow for West Ham United away at Arsenal before the international break and O’Neill has similar high hopes for the former Linfield man.

"He could have had a loan option prior to the window, but West Ham were very keen for him to stay in,” he added.

"There has been a change of manager, a lot going on there for a young player to deal with, but Callum is very focused, very driven, trains extremely hard, wants to do well, is impatient, which you expect from young players, and I’m delighted.

“Callum always shows up well in every camp. If you look around the Premier League, there’s not many 20-year-old number nines getting loads of minutes, so it’s a big challenge for him to get that.

"It was very positive to see Nuno (Espírito Santo) giving him those minutes so early in his tenure at the club.”