OTD: PIERRE EKWAH BORN

Born on this day in 2002 in Massy, France is former Sunderland midfielder Pierre Ekwah. Ekwah made 61 appearances for the club in his two years, scoring five times.

Ekwah began his career playing for several amateur sides in France. Starting at the age of seven he turned out for RC Arpajonnais until 2011, then Bretigny FCS until 2016 and finally CFF Paris for a year.

His first professional club was Nantes, who he played youth football with for one season. During his time there he made his debut for France's under-16s and he would eventually earn 13 caps at that level. Ekwah clearly impressed in Western France as he was picked up by Premier League giants Chelsea for a fee of €2 million in 2018, an impressive figure for a 16-year-old. He never set the world alight at Chelsea though, making just 30 appearances between the U18 and U23 teams across his three year spell with the Blues.

Probably seeking more game time, the now 19-year-old stayed within London but moved to West Ham United in 2021 for a lower fee of €1.4 million. Minutes became more plentiful and he became a regular for West Ham's under-21s. Still, he never managed to break into the first team, although his time with the Hammers coincided with them having a squad good enough to qualify for European competitions, so that was always going to be a tall order. The only taste of senior football he got was playing against men’s teams in the EFL Trophy, featuring on the bench against Norwich City in the Premier League and doing the same in the Europa Conference League qualifiers.

With the player then being 21 years old, playing youth football would no longer help him develop his game as much as he would like, so regular minutes in a senior team would be needed. Naturally then, he made the smart decision to drop down a league and come to Championship Sunderland.

At the time we were sitting in ninth place having just beaten Middlesbrough 2-0 at the Stadium of Light just one day before his arrival. That meant we were just one point away from the top six. If all went well he could be a Premier League player again in the space of just a few months and for a fee of precisely £0 (disregarding add-ons) it was a smart move for both parties. Of course, we didn’t end up getting promoted but we weren’t that far off. In the long term, the recruitment strategy at Sunderland was focused on young, developing talent so minutes wouldn’t be hard to come by for the youngster.

He was immediately thrown into the deep end by Mowbray, as he came off the bench with Sunderland desperately holding onto a 1-1 draw away to Fulham in the FA Cup, who at the time were a very good top-half Premier League side. We did hold on in the end and take it to a replay but before the rematch, he got a first taste of Championship action away to Millwall off the bench where we came away with a solid point.

Ekwah looked to have moments of quality but appeared to be a rather shaky player, still clearly adapting to senior football and the competitiveness of the Championship. Despite this he was handed a start away to Burnley, who were by far and away the best team in the Championship. Playing over an hour of the game, the Frenchman helped Sunderland come away with a fantastic clean sheet in a 0-0 draw. After this he made an infamous error at home to Hull City, we were 4-3 up with seconds left on the clock and his inexperience showed when he gave away a penalty. The visitors took this chance and the game finished 4-4.

There were, of course, calls for him to be dropped but Mowbray persisted with him and after this he was a much better player, starting four of our remaining six games of the Championship season as we made a late break into the top six. His good form also meant he did not miss a minute as our injury-ravaged side were just about beaten by Luton Town 3-2 on aggregate in the play-off semi finals.

In 2023-24 he became a regular feature in the team despite three different head coaches throughout the campaign. Ekwah managed 42 games out of our 48 competitive matches and, had it not been for injuries, it probably would have been more. Highlights included a brace with two long range efforts in a 5-0 win versus Southampton and a winner away to West Bromwich Albion. Of course, he did make one high profile error when he was dispossessed on the edge of the box in the Wear-Tyne derby, allowing the away side to double their advantage.

The following season, he made one more appearance for Sunderland in an EFL Cup match before being loaned out to Ligue 1 Saint-Etienne. He did well in France, playing 20 times and scoring once but couldn't prevent his team getting relegated. We were promoted to the Premier League at the end of the season, which made it clear Ekwah wouldn't play again for us. It was assumed his temporary side wouldn't fork out for his permanent signature, given that they moved down a division, but they chose to pay the €7 million fee to bring him in.

Ekwah was furious about this and reportedly unilaterally terminated his contract with the club. He's still technically contracted to Saint-Etienne but it is a weird grey area. He, obviously, hasn't played since the start of the season but has been in talks with teams across Europe over a potential move. Hopefully, he can get himself playing regularly again in the not so distant future. From a Sunderland perspective, we made a decent profit off of him and he was a perfectly average Championship footballer who occasionally played really well. Definitely worth it in the end.