Sunderland defender Luke Bell has named his favourite ever Black Cats player – and hailed the influence of teammate Luke O’Nien.
The 18-year-old has featured regularly for Graeme Murty’s under-21s side this season and captained the side as the Black Cats lost 3-2 to Tottenham Hotspur at Eppleton in the Premier League 2 on Monday night. The defender also played at the Stadium of Light during the under-21s’ draw against Nottingham Forest last week.
Bell has been at the Academy of Light for over half of his life, slowly rising through the ranks. After the game against Tottenham, the centre-back spoke to The Echo about training with senior players such as O’Nien and detailed what it is like to play for your boyhood team
“I’ve been here since halfway through the under-9s so 10 years I think. Lee Cattermole was my favourite player growing up,” Bell told The Echo after Sunderland under-21s lost a five-goal thriller to Tottenham Hotspur in Premier League 2.
Asked if there was any player who he looked up to currently at Sunderland, Bell said: “I think O’Nien is a massive one to look at. He’s a great one on and off the pitch. His attitude towards development and all, I’m not saying it’s on him but a lot of players when they get older can just try and focus on performances but he’s really developmentally driven.
“He’s always looking for a chance to get better in and around the club so he’s a great person to emulate. Whenever you even get bits of training with him. Anytime he sees you really he’s great for just helping you understand the game better. I trained with him the other day and just being able to hear what he says when you’re defending in a back line, really helps my development because it lets me know what I should be doing.”
Asked what it meant to be playing for Sunderland as a boyhood fan, Bell responded: “Oh yeah, it never gets old really to be honest. It’s what everyone loves. I know you probably shouldn’t say it but just to be able to say it to your mate is everything. I play for Sunderland but it is what I do.”
What happened as Sunderland played Tottenham?
Felix Scott netted two superb goals for Sunderland in the second half but Tottenham bagged three of their own to secure a 3-2 win at Hetton in the Premier League 2 in front of a crowd of 382.
Sunderland came into the game hoping they could take another step towards securing a spot in next season’s Premier League International Cup. A top-16 finish would also guarantee qualification for the end-of-season play-offs. The Black Cats were 12th coming into the game. Murty’s men have just one game of the regular campaign left away to Aston Villa on Friday and will need to win it to secure their goals.
Lead coach Murty named a very youthful looking under-21s side which included eight under-18 scholars, with the likes of Joe Anderson, Tom Lavery, Harrison Jones, Ben Middlemas and Oli Bainbridge all with Régis Le Bris first-team for the clash against Norwich City in the Championship on Tuesday night at Carrow Road. Rhys Walsh and Cuba Mitchell were also rested after last week’s draw against Nottingham Forest as Murty rotated his squad with both making the bench.
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