West Ham are keeping tabs on Sunderland defender Daniel Ballard.
The Sun have revealed that the Irons sent Head of Recruitment, Rob Newman, to the Northern Ireland’s defeat to Finland to monitor the centre-back.
Ballard joined the Black Cats from Arsenal last summer and had been one of their best players, however his opening season on Wearside has been plagued by injuries.
The 23-year-old was sidelined for four months with a foot injury, before it was confirmed his season was over with a hamstring problem back in April. The clash against Finland was his last game before he was sent to the treatment room.
Various reports claimed Sunderland snapped Ballard up for only £2 million, however his transfer value is likely to have shot up after a series of impressive performances in the Championship.
West Ham have limited options in their backline and, with Angelo Ogbonna’s contract set to expire next month, Moyes is now eager to raid his former club to bring Ballard back to the capital.
Selling Daniel Ballard would be backward step for Sunderland
Sunderland have accepted that their new transfer regime means they will end up selling players on for a decent profit, however that doesn’t mean they should be prepared to let go of Daniel Ballard so soon.
The centre-back has only had one year in the Championship and quite clearly has the potential to become one of the best defenders in the second tier.
The Black Cats have a real chance of winning promotion next season and they can’t just part ways with their top stars at the drop of the hat – they need to stay strong, and that is what they have struggled with for so many years.
It also seems unlikely that Ballard would even want to return to the top flight so soon – surely that is why he was willing to move up north in the first place, to pick up guaranteed first team football.
The Arsenal academy product still has plenty to prove and Tony Mowbray’s side certainly don’t need to sell up quite yet.
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