Played for both Sunderland and Norwich: Alex Pritchard

Current Sunderland and former Norwich attacking midfielder Alex Pritchard is this week’s played for both.

When Sunderland line-up to face Norwich at Carrow Road, there will be one player incredibly familiar to both sets of supporters. 

Alex Pritchard started his career in West Ham’s youth system before transferring to Tottenham Hotspur’s academy in 2009.

The former England under-21 international only made two senior appearances for Spurs, though, before he joined Norwich in 2016 for a fee in the region of eight million pounds.

Before joining Norwich, Pritchard had loan spells at Peterborough, Swindon, Brentford and West Brom, and generally left a very positive impression with all of them. 

Pritchard’s most successful loan spell came at Brentford when he scored 12 goals and got seven assists as the Bees finished in the play-off positions. 

After 18 months at Norwich, Pritchard was sold to then-Premier League Huddersfield Town for a fee believed to be in the region of £11 million.

Pritchard made 83 appearances for Huddersfield over four frustrating seasons before moving to Sunderland on a free transfer in 2021.

Pritchard during Sunderland's win at Huddersfield (Image Credit: Simon Davies)

Pritchard at Norwich

Pritchard joined Norwich from Spurs and went on to play 43 games for the Canaries in an 18-month period.

During his first season in Norfolk, Pritchard scored seven goals in 35 appearances in all competitions, he also notched 12 assists as Norwich narrowly missed out on a play-off place finishing eighth.

The following season Pritchard was recovering from a lengthy ankle injury and didn’t make his first appearance of the season until November 25, in a 1-1 draw against Preston.

Pritchard made a further seven appearances, including five starts before being sold to Premier League club Huddersfield in the January transfer window.

Pritchard with his man of the match award following Sunderland's play-off win (Image Credit: John Walton)

Pritchard at Sunderland

The playmaker signed for Sunderland on a free transfer whilst the club was still in League One.

Pritchard played 47 games in all competitions for Sunderland, scoring four goals and assisting another 13.

This season Pritchard has played 30 games in the Championship for Sunderland with three goals and four assists. He has missed five games through injury so far this season and struggled to break back into the starting line-up since his injury with only three starts since Boxing Day.

Pritchard did score in his last start for Sunderland - a consolation goal in the Black Cats 5-1 defeat to Stoke.

Best Sunderland moment

Pritchard has become Sunderland's dead-ball specialist during his time at Sunderland, scoring twice and assisting four from corners and free-kicks. However, his best moment in a red and white shirt may have come In the League One play-off final.

Pritchard set up both goals in Sunderland’s 2-0 victory over Wycombe Wanders at Wembley last May.

The attacking midfielder laid-off for teammate Elliot Embleton on the hallway line before the academy product ran through Wycombe’s defence and scored with a long-range effort from outside the box.

Pritchard then played the ball into Ross Stewart on the edge of the box the Scotsman to put the tie beyond doubt.

Pritchard was awarded Man of the Match in a game that ended Sunderland’s League One nightmare.

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