Daniel Ballard has once again got tongues wagging as he stars on loan for Millwall this season, with the Arsenal loanee helping his side to a clean sheet against Bristol City.
The defender has quickly established himself as a key player at the heart of the Lions defence, and the 22 year-old is definitely attracting attention from Arsenal’s fans.
Before the summer, we were expecting all of William Saliba, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Daniel Ballard to get the chance to spend pre-season in north London before a decision would be made on their futures, but none of them featured for the senior side in any of our friendlies, and they have since been shipped out on different loan deals.
While all three impressed on their respective temporary spells last season, the Frenchman is the most highly rated, with the club spending in excess of £30 Million to land him in 2019 from St Etienne, but Ballard’s performances for both Millwall and the Northern Ireland senior team are receiving plenty of praise.
His outing yesterday even got hailed as a Man of the Match performance by Football.London’s Connor Humm.
Daniel Ballard vs. Bristol City:
90 minutes played
69 touches
41 passes (77.4% accuracy)
7 aerial duels (5 won)
7 ground duels (6 won)
4 clearances
1 block
1 interception
3 tackles
1 clean sheetMan of the match. #AFCLoanWatch pic.twitter.com/xgH7CJ6rlu
— Connor Humm (@TikiTakaConnor) September 29, 2021
A Millwall fan was also in awe of Ballard’s role in the victory also.
A massive 3 points for #Millwall. Just what this team needed after a disappointing result Saturday. MOM: Benik Afobe. He performed wonderfully for all 90 minutes & was taken down for the PK that Jed Wallace hammered home. A s/o to Daniel Ballard. The Arsenal-loanee is exceptional https://t.co/0diP9Zk1dZ
— Joe Chatz (@JoeChatz) September 29, 2021
Should Arteta be following Ballard’s progress closely? Is the Championship a better ground than Ligue 1 for understanding how one would adjust to Premier League football?
Patrick