Sunderland goalkeeper Alex Bass has joined League Two side AFC Wimbledon this this summer in a year long loan deal.
Bass joined Wimbledon last month with the 25-year-old keen to gain some regular minutes away from Sunderland.
He spent last season as Anthony Patterson’s back-up at the Stadium of Light.
However on arrival at the Dons, he has established himself as the first-choice immediately.
The move sees Bass closer to his homeland which is the south coast of England.
Following his move he has discussed the reasons for the switch.
Bass on Wimbledon move
Bass said of his move, in an interview with AFC Wimbledon’s official website, via Chronicle Live, he said: “It was quite a slow-burner in the end, to be honest,
“The situation at Sunderland was that they needed to get a keeper in [before Bass could leave], so I was kind of hanging around a little bit there.
“It came up, spoke to the goalkeeping coach [Alessandro Barcherini] at Sunderland, and he really wanted me to come down here. He knew of Bayzo [Wimbledon goalkeeping coach Ashley Bayes] quite a lot – I think they went on a course together in the summer and they spoke about me then and things just kept rolling from there.”
He then added that the location of Wimbledon played a big part in the switch.
“It was one of the things I thought about a little bit when the move came about. Being from the South Coast, Sunderland is a long way from home where as this is probably an hour-and-a-half max up the A3, so it’s a great place to come and I’m really enjoying my football here so far.”
On his new coach he added: “His attitude to training is phenomenal, he makes you work really hard and he is just a great guy – he really cares about you on and off the pitch.”
He then concluded by discussing his new role at the club.
“As a goalkeeper, you are judged on the number of clean sheets that you keep and to have the start we have had has been excellent and long may it continue,” said Bass. “The boys in front of me have done really well as well, because it’s not just me, the whole back four takes pride in keeping clean sheets.”
“If you look at the club, there are something like nine or ten new signings from last season. It’s a back line that has not so much been thrown together, but in pre-season there were a few changes and now you look at us and we look really solid.