Ex-Arsenal academy player sold for £2m now a Premier League star ‘worth £80m’

Sunderland centre-back Dan Ballard is worth £80million, according to ex-Black Cats star Micky Gray.

Having been promoted to the Premier League for the first time since 2017 at the end of last season, Sunderland entered the turn of the new year sitting seventh in the table after 18 games played.

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Ahead of their first season back in the top flight of English football, Sunderland acquired 14 new players, headlined by that of former Brighton winger Simon Adingra (£20.5m) and former Arsenal captain Granit Xhaka (£17.3m).

In total, they spent in the region of £172m, whilst they also had several outgoings – the most notable being that of Jobe Bellingham‘s £32m switch to Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund.

Despite undergoing such monumental changes, it is one Black Cats stalwart who has earned all the plaudits of talkSPORT’s Manchester correspondent Gray.

“If you want me to say a player who probably could be worth £60/70/80million, I would say Dan Ballard. He has been incredible,” Gray told talkSPORT ahead of Sunderland’s clash against Manchester City. “And the goalkeeper Robin Roefs has been sensational as well.

“But Dan Ballard for me. Look, he went away in the summer and obviously had the playoff semi-finals where he was the one who got them into the final with a header against Coventry late on.

“He went away in the summer and he said to himself, and not many players probably do this and say, ‘look, I’m not strong enough to be a Premier League centre-half.’

“So he bulked himself up. Worked on his pace, worked on his positioning and his leadership, and he has been absolutely phenomenal. He really has.

“So if you’re talking about a player costing £60/70/80million, then I’m sure there’s a lot of clubs – and I hope he stays at Sunderland – but I’m sure there’s a lot of clubs looking at him thinking ‘he could replace who we’ve got.'”

From Arsenal reject to North East hero

Born in Stevenage, Ballard was once part of the Arsenal Academy, joining the club at the age of eight.

After a rocky start to life in north London in which he was released twice, the Gunners then offered the defender a scholarship when he was 16 years old after a standout performance in a friendly match away at Bayern Munich.

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Ballard then signed his first professional contract with the club in June 2018, though he would be loaned out to Swindon Town, Blackpool and Millwall before making the permanent switch to Sunderland in 2022 for a mere £2m.

He departed Arsenal having never made a senior appearance for the team.

Joining the then-newly promoted Championship club on a three-year deal, Ballard has since gone on to become Regis Le Bris’ leading talisman in the back line.

His goal (on aggregate) in extra time of the second leg of the 2024/25 Championship play-off game against Coventry City punched Sunderland’s ticket to the play-off final, where they defeated Sheffield United 2-1 at Wembley Stadium.

On his Premier League debut in what is his fourth season with the Black Cats, Ballard netted the second goal in a 3-0 win over West Ham, and has been part of a back line that has so far recorded five clean sheets.

He also netted his second goal of the 2025/26 campaign against Arsenal – where he spent 15 years – in a 2-2 draw back in November which denied the Gunners what would have been a record nine consecutive clean sheets.

Ballard is now currently sidelined with a thigh injury which he picked up at the end of December.

Sunderland’s stunning start to life back in the top flight

Sunderland have so far been enjoying a season that has shocked not only Sunderland fans, but football fans alike.

Whilst Xhaka – who made his return to English football from German outfit Bayer Leverkusen – has been touted as one of their signings of the season, Gray feels that it will take a season or two to identify other players in the Sunderland squad that may be worth more than their current market value, and in a similar region to his valuation of Ballard.

“The one that everybody’s obviously talking about is Granit Xhaka,” Gray said. “I think maybe when you get into the second season, you maybe have a look at it and think, ‘yeah, these players are better than we thought.’

“[Noah] Sadiki in midfield has been absolutely outstanding. He is top class. There’s another player who’s picked up with a bit of an injury and he hasn’t played too much is [Habib] Diarra in midfield. He’s obviously away at AFCON, like many of them are.”

On the season itself, Gray – who was born in Sunderland and is a boyhood fan of the club – feels that the players, both old and new, have given everything to the shirt and have reignited the fans’ energy at the Stadium of Light.

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“Nobody in their wildest dreams could have maybe expected this first half of the season that Sunderland have had,” Gray added.

“Bringing in 14 new players in the summer. Nobody knew who was going to be starting, what kind of system or what style we were going to be playing.

“But they’ve waited so long for it these Sunderland supporters, what nine years to get back into the Premier League?

“And the players that have walked through that door have been nothing short of absolutely sensational. They really have. They’ve made that stadium into a fortress.”