Sunderland boss Michael Beale has spoke highly of this 20-year-old attacker after the draw with Middlesbrough over the weekend.
Sunderland headed to Middlesbrough on Sunday for what promised to be a challenging encounter in the Championship.
And the points were eventually shared after a 1-1 draw, with Nazariy Rusyn rescuing a late point for the Black Cats who now sit in 8th place of the Championship table.
It was a steady performance from Sunderland who’ve been on a rocky patch under Beale, who largely remains a man under pressure.
But Beale has a few players to thank for a positive couple of results in the last two games, with one such player being Abdoullah Ba.
Michael Beale hails ‘huge asset’ Abdoullah Ba
Ba, 20, joined Sunderland from Le Havre ahead of last season, going on to feature 29 times in the Championship whilst scoring one goal, and claiming just one assist.
But this season, in 27 league appearances so far, the Frenchman has scored three goals and assisted four more, becoming a key player over the last few weeks in particular.
Under Beale, Ba is starting to cement his place in the XI having started three of the last four, and the Sunderland boss spoke highly of Ba after the draw vs Middlesbrough.
Beale told Sunderland Echo:
“I think Abdoullah played really well in the first half. I felt that both him and Jack were two of the players who were not winning their duels at the start of the second half, the full backs were getting the better of them and they weren’t helping the team too much defensively – so we made a change. But Abdoullah is showing, at 20 years of age, that he’s a huge asset for Sunderland. I’m really pleased with him, his first-half performance aside from that miss was strong, he caused Engel problems.”
Sunderland conveyor belt keeps moving
Sunderland over the past few seasons under the ownership of Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, have made a good habit of signing players for pretty low fees, and making them into valuable, sellable assets.
Jack Clarke is the best example. Dan Ballard is another and then the likes of academy players Anthony Patterson and Dan Neil could be thrown unto that category too.
And Ba is another who’s becoming a really important, promising player, and at 20 years old and under contract until 2027, he’s another who could quickly become a very valuable asset for the club.
He’s had some tough runs of form for the Black Cats, even earlier this season. But we’ve seen a lot of progression from him in the last few weeks and with Clarke’s future uncertain beyond this season, it could be the perfect time for Ba and new boy Romaine Mundle to really step up.
Sunderland are back in action against Plymouth Argyle at the Stadium of Light this weekend.