West Ham chasing former Arsenal wonderkid with David Moyes sending scouts to monitor centre-half
WEST HAM are keeping tabs on Sunderland’s Northern Ireland defender Daniel Ballard.
The centre back was watched by Hammers’ Head of Recruitment Rob Newman at the most recent international in March – a 1-0 home defeat by Finland.
Former Arsenal trainee Ballard, 23, is currently out of action with a hamstring injury.
But West Ham boss David Moyes is watching developments as he plans for next season.
Sunderland reached the Championship Play-Off semi finals last season before losing to eventual winners Luton.
Ballard has admitted he was a late developer.
But he’s reaped the rewards from three loan spells before switching to the Black Cats in June 2022.
However, his first temporary spell was a nightmarre.
He lasted just three games with Swindon in 2019 as a serious knee injury left him needing five months to recover.
But Ballard then helped Blackpool win promotion from League One and shone in Millwall’s surprise challenge for a Championship play-off spot in 2021-22.
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Now he’s just done the same with Sunderland.
And he told Sunsport last year how he’s grafted to completely overturn what he saw as flaws in his game.
Ballard said: “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.
“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.”