Former Gunner with sell-on clause scores 3rd in 5 games | OneFootball

Former Gunner Daniel Ballard scored his third goal in five internationals earlier this week, as he eyes up a return to the Premier League in his club football.

Photo via Ballard on Twitter

Former Arsenal academy defender Daniel Ballard has struggled with a couple of injury setbacks this season, but he made an ideal first start back in action for his country on Friday.

Not only did Nothern Ireland keep a clean sheet against Belarus, the 25-year-old also netted one of their two goals, heading home to open the scoring.

Somewhat unusually for a defender, Ballard now has three goals in his last five matches for his country, having previously scored against Luxembourg in September and against Spain in June.

Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images

For those wondering how Ballard’s club football is going since his 2022 departure from Arsenal, the centre-back is still playing for Sunderland in the Championship.

After 43 league appearances last campaign, Ballard has seen his minutes limited this season due to the aforementioned injuries. But on the positive side, Sunderland are top of the league and have a very realistic shot at promotion this season.

Whether or not Sunderland go up, Arsenal will be pleased to see Ballard performing well, both as a former member of the club’s academy and also because the Gunners have a sell-on clause in his contract.

Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

Though the exact percentage of the sell-on was never confirmed, reports in 2022 described it as “significant”. If Ballard continues to do well for club and country, that could become relevant in the coming transfer windows.