Luke O’Nien has named one Sunderland star in his ‘ultimate footballer’ list.
When footballers are asked to create their ‘ultimate footballer’ made up of a number of star players, those players tend to come from your Man Citys, your Real Madrids and your Liverpools.
While Luke O’Nien did exactly that, he also managed to sneak in one particular Sunderland star too – and it wasn’t Jack Clarke.
The defender was asked by JOE’s TikTok page, who he would include for passing and he responded with Kevin De Bruyne. For shooting, he went with Lionel Messi, who has netted over 800 goals in his career.
For strength it was Adebayo Akinfenwa, who is far from the standard of De Bruyne and Messi, but is well known for being one of the strongest men in football and also spent two years with O’Nien at Wycombe Wanderers.
He chose Luka Modric for ‘football IQ’, and when asked about pace, he replied: “‘Son. He has the fastest step over I’ve ever seen in my life. I still have no idea where he has gone.”
After naming some of the best footballers in the world (and Akinfenwa), the Sunderland captain was then asked who he would include for dribbling.
According to WhoScored, the best dribblers in Europe’s top five leagues last season were Vinicius Junior (103 dribbles), Lionel Messi (91) and Jude Bellingham (83).
However, O’Nien’s answer to the question was Patrick Roberts. The winger made the third-most successful dribbles in the Championship last term (101) – only two short of Vinicius Jr, and also behind Sheffield United’s Iliman Ndiaye and Watford’s Joao Pedro in the second tier.
This season though, Roberts is ninth with 58 successful dribbles – less than half of Jack Clarke’s tally of 122.
What went wrong for Patrick Roberts?
The 27-year-old is a sensational dribbler and the fact that Luke O’Nien has picked him over Jack Clarke says a lot, but he hasn’t been able to show it this season.
He has had a number of runs with the ball that have left him unable to finish at the end, but on the whole he has been unable to replicate the creative, confident side of him that really shone during the 2022-23 campaign.
Sunderland undeniably have one of the best players in the Championship in Patrick Roberts, but he has massively dropped off this time round and his trickery hasn’t been enough to establish a regular place in the team for him.
With only two assists in the Championship so far, the forward could potentially go all season without a goal – just months after he signed a new contract with the Black Cats.