Troy Deeney shares ‘perfect’ Luke O’Nien story after what Sunderland star did
Luke O’Nien has established himself as one of the most important players at Sunderland ever since arriving from Wycombe Wanderers.
Sunderland tasted defeat against Leeds United on Monday (17 February), but they are still within a shot at achieving promotion this season, with O’Nien playing a key role in that success so far.
O’Nien has consistently shown his ability as a top-level Championship defender and has very rarely been overpowered by any striker in the division.
His attitude on and off the pitch has seen O’Nien become a local hero at Sunderland, with him the perfect embodiment of what fans expect to see from a player wearing the famous red and white stripes.
While he certainly ruffles a few feathers on the pitch, his work ethic has seen him come a long way in football and that has seemingly been the case for some time.
Luke O’Nien was released by Watford as a youngster
Prior to a move to Wycombe, O’Nien was on the cards of the Hornets before being released in 2015.
That was the same time Deeney was a Watford player, and when speaking live on talkSPORT (18 February, 9:20am), he was reminiscent of the effort shown by O’Nien on the training ground.
Deeney said: “I love telling this story because I think he’s the perfect example of working hard and squeezing all out of the orange.
“He was at Watford and every single day, 8am he’d be in. He’d do his gym, he’d do everything right, he’d train and they’d have to go and tell him to come in after training to eat because he’d stay out there with a bag of balls.
“He’d do the gym again, he’d wait for everyone to go, then he’d go back out with a bag of balls and it literally got to a point where management was saying at like 5 and 6pm, go home.
“He knew he wasn’t as good as everybody technically and physically, so he just worked his nuts off to make it happen, then went to Wycombe. Gets the captaincy there, then moves to Sunderland. I’m just so happy for him.”
Season is not over yet for Sunderland
While the defeat to Leeds definitely provided a blow to their hopes of achieving a top-two finish, the Championship promises to offer many more twists and turns ahead of the final 13 games of the campaign.
Should the Black Cats fail to achieve that, the play-offs remain, and given the form they have showcased this season, they have very chance of achieving success through those means.
With the likes of Romaine Mundle and Tommy Watson ending closer to match fitness, the Wearsiders can have a real go at the remainder of the season, knowing that they have a pretty safe cushion on those outside of the top six.
A home encounter against Hull City is up next for Regis Le Bris’ side, a game in which they will be keen to right their wrongs from Elland Road.