HAVE SUNDERLAND FANS ALREADY TAKEN ALFRED NDIAYE TO THEIR HEARTS? Alfred NâDiaye, heâs some player isnât he? Signed within a week into the winter transfer window and already the young frenchman is fast becoming a fan favourite in Wearside. Still muscling, quite literally, his way to match fitness and finding his feet in the Barclays Premier League, the 22-year-old has already notched his his first assist and should really, have had two goals to his account already. Heâs hit the ground running wouldnât you say? Itâs clear that Martin OâNeill has done his homework on him and waited for the right time to pluck him out of Bursaspor in Turkey to unleash him upon on of the magical green turf. Starting at US VandÅuvre the combative midfielder began to learn his trade before signing a professional contract with Association Sportive Nancy-Lorraine in 2004. He had to be patient mind, waiting almost years to make his debut at the age of 17. Impressing when he made appearances, a successful run of 27 senior appearances followed, and in between 2008-2011 he played 67 times, before moving over to Bursapor for a fee roughly in the margin of £3 million. Here, he collected 37 appearances and scored three goals in a short spell in Turkey. Internationally NâDiaye has represented France at all age levels and was vice captain of the under-19 team that reached the semi-final of the 2009 UEFA European Championships. From what weâve seen of him so far, itâs not hard to see he is a unit and that heâs not afraid to put in a tackle, something Sunderland has lacked since Lee Cattermole injured his knee at the start of winter. As time goes on however, itâll be interesting to see how he develops. Will he become a Claude Makélelé or an attacking Patrick Vieira? Heâs an exciting prospect, itâs obvious to say, clearly it has OâNeill excited. On SAFC.com website he said: âHeâs a player Iâve been monitoring for some time. I went out to see him a couple of days before the summer transfer deadline when Bursaspor were involved in the Europa league. âIt gave me an opportunity to look at him then and of course Iâve been monitoring him ever since.â Obviously there is some expectation there, but again time is needed to allow him to adapt to surroundings and climate (i had to mentioned that of course!) His start is reminiscent to Lorik Cana when he began his career with the Black Cats in 2009. Crunching tackles, leadership qualities and an engine that could run for more than 90 minutes on the pitch. Fans know that his spark withered out eventually and for personal reasons departed, but already you can see this wont be happening with NâDiaye. After all he has the french-speaking Stephane Sessegnon and another new signing Kader Mangane to keep him company and help settle in. Itâs that âwait and seeâ tag that you can justify how people expect Alfred NâDiaye to develop and how OâNeill will mould him. With the addition of NâDiaye, Mangane and with maybe two or three more quality signings, Sunderland could well be knocking on the door of a top ten spot This signing has added to the ever developing foundations at Sunderland to exploit the league with fast counter-attacking football like last year and with the team slowly pulling away from relegation, the goal should be now to attack the top half of the league.
