WHEN Dan Ballard saw David Luiz strutting his stuff during a training session at Arsenal, he thought his chances of making a decent career were a million miles away.
Yet Ballard has loved proving people wrong and now wants to prove Sunderland right
Sunderland defender Dan Ballard left Arsenal in the summer after 14 years
David Luiz used to woo Dan Ballard with his incredible skills
The centre-half was once deemed too slow, too short and not technically gifted.
But this weekend he makes his Black Cats debut at what will be a packed Stadium of Light against Coventry as they mark their return to the Championship after four years in League One.
Ballard, 22, came through the Arsenal academy and left the club he joined aged eight this summer after being snapped up by Alex Neil in a £2million deal.
The Stevenage-born ace has worked hard on his game and moves to the north-west on the back of two superb loan seasons.
First he helped Blackpool win promotion from League One and then played a major part in Millwall’s surprise challenge for a Championship play-off spot last season.
And he told SunSport: “The biggest thing I learned at Arsenal was hard work because I was never the best player in my age group or the one who they thought would go on and make a good career.
“They drilled into me that I had to work the hardest, respect the coaches, listen and learn.
“You of course learn football but I also learned about resilience too.
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“Naturally I like hard work. That comes easier to me than some people and that’s perhaps because football has never been easy for me, it’s always been tough. So I’ve had to work hard otherwise I’d not be in the position I am today.
“As I was growing up in the younger age groups, I was a late developer. Even at 18, I still wasn’t a centre-back because I wasn’t tall enough.
“I was one of the slowest, couldn’t move my legs and I wasn’t a technically gifted player.
“Yet I’ve always been naturally good at defending but compared to the other lads with the ball I was always below the curve whereas now my body is stronger, I feel comfortable on the ball and all that work at Arsenal has worked out better in the long run.
“I don’t feel below the curve or as though I’m the one struggling — but rather that I can make a major impact.”
Daniel Ballard and Tolaji Bola tussles in an Arsenal training session
Dan Ballard had to work harder than others at Arsenal to develop
Ballard had the privilege of training with the first team under Arsene Wenger alongside Jack Wilshere and Mesut Ozil — and later got blown away by the skills of Luiz.
He said: “I did four or five sessions while Wenger was around. Even though I was only used as a training player, it’s great to be able to always say I trained under him.
“I was blown away by how good Wilshere and Ozil were — they were on another planet and they just seemed world beaters to a youngster like me.
“Luiz was someone I was particularly taken aback by in terms of how good he was on the ball and the style of play he had. It made me understand how far away I was to that level and how hard I had to work.”
EFL BAPTISM
Ballard had a tough baptism to EFL football on loan at Swindon, where he barely played and suffered an injury, but the last two seasons have seen him really improve his game.
Under Neil Critchley — who knows a thing or two about developing youngsters from his time running Liverpool youth teams — the centre-half grew in confidence and stature during what was a breakthrough season.
And he capped it with a fine performance at Wembley as Blackpool came from behind to beat Lincoln 2-1.
And Ballard said: “It was one of the best years of my career. Everything about that loan was great … the timing of it, the opportunities it gave me and the chance to develop under that manager and team. To win promotion was the icing on the cake.”
Last season was a different challenge as he stepped up to the Championship and performed so well that Millwall boss Gary Rowett wanted to keep him at The Den.
And Ballard said: “It was a different style in what was a hostile stadium at times. You couldn’t ask for much more. I had a slight problem with an injury but apart from that little setback, I learned so much and had a successful year personally.
“It was a frustrating start to the season with so many draws but the boys always thought we’d pick up after Christmas when the games started catching up on people. When it was cold and horrible, we expected to win games and we did.”
‘SCARY JUMP’
But now Ballard is looking forward to what he describes as a “scary jump” from a kid on-loan with the protection of Arsenal behind him to now having to fend for himself as a permanent Sunderland signing with all the expectation that brings.
He said: “It was tough leaving Arsenal and it does seem strange not having that label to my name that I’ve had all my life and not being able to go back there if something goes wrong.
“It’s a scary jump leaving completely but I needed to pick the right club and don’t think I could’ve picked a better one to go to.
“Also I knew a few of the lads already — Corey Evans and Tyrese Dyce from Northern Ireland and Elliot Embleton who I pretty much lived next door to at Blackpool, where we struck up a good friendship.”
Alex Neil only took over the reins in February and had an immediate impact by winning 10 and drawing seven of his 18 games in charge, which led to a promotion play-off final win against Wycombe.
And this summer the Scot has also added Portsmouth keeper Alex Bass, made the loan transfers of forward Leon Dakaku from Union Berlin and Jack Clarke from Spurs permanent.
Ballard said: “I was surprised by the quality of the squad when I arrived here. Even compared to playing in the Championship last year, this squad feels special.
“The manager is someone who has impressed me so much with his knowledge and the demands he puts on the players. He’s the type of boss I really like — someone who will tell you how it is.
“I don’t think there are any worries going into this season. If anything, we’re going to try to dominate games and have a great chance of doing well.”
Millwall was a great loan spell for Dan Ballard last season
Dan Ballard helped Blackpool win promotion from League One
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