Hume talks 'demands' at Sunderland and drawing inspiration from Healy

Left-back Trai Hume has insisted that Sunderland was the “right choice” for his development.

Hume recently said that it was a big surprise when he found out he’d been called up to the Northern Ireland squad for the first time.

The 19-year-old joined the Black Cats from Linfield FC in January and has made two League One appearances since the move.

Northern Ireland boss Ian Baraclough has named a 25-man squad for this month’s friendly matches against Luxembourg and Hungary.

Speaking ahead of the international break, Hume spoke about whether moving to Sunderland was the right decision to The Irish News.

Hume said: "Definitely, whenever clubs were interested I had to think about what club was best for me. I thought Sunderland was the right choice and it is the right choice. I've been involved in most of the squads - I might not have played so much but I've always been involved. It's good, just gaining experience, and hopefully get more game-time…

"It's a massive club, they demand high standards, demand results. It's a club that wants to win. We're sixth in the league at the minute, so hopefully, we'll get into the play-offs and get promoted to the Championship."

Hume is also looking to draw inspiration from his former coach at Linfield, David Healy, who also turned out for Sunderland, Rangers and Leeds United amongst others during a stellar playing career.

Former Black Cat Healy oversaw Hume's rapid development as his manager at Linfield, and the right back revealed that the club received a glowing recommendation from his now former boss following the move.

Healy's netted a famous hat-trick for Northern Ireland at Windsor Park which defeated Spain in September 2006, when Hume was just five-years-old.

Hume added: "I do remember the game against Spain, obviously with David Healy scoring a hat-trick. The Euros [2016] is probably the main thing I remember. A lot of my family went over to watch it, stuff like that, it was big for the country.

"I've been to a lot of Northern Ireland games: Germany, Holland, and so on. Being away with the Under-21s you miss some games."