Luke O'Nien: My Sunderland journey has been great, but there's still a long way to go

Sunderland and Luke O'Nien have been incredible for each other, but the defender is not ready to stop achieving his goals yet.

Luke O’Nien says he is determined to get himself to the Premier League, and Sunderland is the club where he wants it to happen.

O’Nien has had a fascinating career, joining Sunderland as an attacking midfield player who excelled in League Two with Wycombe yet becoming one of the best ball-playing central defenders in the Championship.

He came close to making the step up to the Premier League with Sunderland last season as they lost in the play-offs semi-finals to eventual winners Luton, and the Black Cats are in the play-offs mix again this year.

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“My journey's been great to date,” O’Nien told safc.com. “I've ticked a lot of goals off that I've wanted to achieve, but there's still a long, long way to go.

“I've made it clear that I want to get to the Premier League and I want to do it with this club and yeah, there's a lot of work to do between then and now.

“We got close last year. We're in a good position this year so main target is to get promoted.”

At 29-years-old, O’Nien is a rare experienced head in the Sunderland side, and he is also one of the most consistent performers.

What he isn’t, by his own admission, is one of the most talented ones, but he sees playing with those players as just another opportunity to learn and improve.

“There are far, far greater players at this club than I am,” he said. “You've got Clarky [Jack Clarke], who's been absolutely magic every single weekend, Dan Ballard next to me, Patter [Anthony Patterson] in goal, Daniel [Neil].

“Those guys in my eyes are the ones I'm learning from and I’m looking to improve every single day.”

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