The Black Cats ace is loved by fans at the Stadium of Light and is doing his bit in the club’s quest for promotion from League One.
Luke O’Nien’s efforts for Sunderland this season have been rewarded by being handed the club’s Young Player of the Year award at the annual supporters’ branches awards night.
The 24-year-old took a while to nail down a first-team position at the Stadium of Light following his summer move from Wycombe Wanderers.
For much of the first half of the League One campaign, O’Nien featured sporadically for the Black Cats, as seen on his season stats page on Transfermarkt.
However, since being shifted at right-back by manager Jack Ross, O’Nien has become a fixture in the Sunderland starting XI amid their hopes of promotion from the third tier.
With 34 League One appearances and 46 in all competitions under his belt this term, plus five goals and seven assists, he has been a good contributor to the cause.
O’Nien has also won over much of the Black Cats fanbase with his work ethic and, quite simply, because he’s a really nice guy.
Here is how the club announced the award on their Twitter feed:
Here is O’Nien’s response:
And here is a selection of the Sunderland fan reaction on the social media platform:
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