Arsenal defender close to finalizing move to Championship side
Daniel Ballard is set to leave Arsenal for Championship outfit Sunderland, according to Football Insider.
The 22-year-old has been a subject of strong interest from a whole host of clubs across Europe.
Recently relegated Premier League side Burnley had agreed a fee with Arsenal and the player even travelled to the city for his medical.
However, talks broke down after terms could not be agreed. The Black Cats acted quickly and will now be pleased to land the Northern Ireland international, ahead of his many suitors.
Understand Sunderland have agreed a deal for Arsenal and Northern Ireland defender Daniel Ballard. #safc #afc #Arsenal
— Pete O'Rourke (@SportsPeteO) June 29, 2022
With the competition that the Gunners have at center back, having the likes of Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes, the incoming William Saliba, Rob Holding and the heavily linked Lisandro Martinez hopefully joining, making the cut at the Emirates Stadium was always an uphill struggle.
Thus, Mikel Arteta giving the green light to Ballard to depart the North London seems like a rational decision.
The young center back has 10 appearances for his national team while also racking up 30 for Blackpool and 32 for Millwall in the past two seasons.
Frustrating results over the past two weeks. Always an honour to wear the shirt, We’ll keep fighting and working hard 💚🤍 @NorthernIreland pic.twitter.com/rF1vY2q8Xy
— Daniel Ballard (@dg_ballard) June 14, 2022
Good performances out on loan made him an interesting prospect to look at in the current transfer window.
It is believed Millwall wanted to re-sign Ballard, while Blackburn Rovers were also monitoring his situation.
The 22-year-old will definitely try his best at the Stadium of Light. And the staff at London Colney will certainly be keeping one eye on him.
If things go well, a reunion might very well be on the cards in the future.
I don’t get it. Chelsea youth player plays well in the Championship -> 15-20 transfer million fee.
Arsenal youth player plays well in League One and Championship -> 2 transfer million fee.
We seriously have incompetent people working on the transfers. I’m starting to doubt they even follow the progress or increasing value of loaned players.
2 million transfer fee*
Who exactly is the Chelsea player to whom you refer?
Willock? Iwobi? Martinez? or did u forget those? As for Chelsea, how about their decisions to let debruyne and Salah go, then buy back Lukaku for £97m and then loan him back for less than £10m.
Why not find something positive to say about Arsenal, if not say nothing.
Imagine Saka is still worth less than 60mil in actual value because we don’t have good marketer at the club