On this day in 2022, Trai Hume made his debut for Sunderland. The Northern Ireland international has been one of the first names on the team sheet for some time now and we have all become accustomed to his perfectly timed sliding tackles.
Trai Hume played youth football at Ballymena United, before moving to Linfield in 2013. The boyhood Chelsea fan signed his first professional contract in January 2019, and he made his first team debut when he was subbed on in a 5-1 win over Cliftonville.
The full back was loaned back to Ballymena United, on the 11th September 2020. He made 37 total appearances for the Braidmen, and scored five goals. Hume returned to Linfield the following season and even played in the qualifying rounds for both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Conference League. A big moment for any player.
The Northern Irishman scored his first goal for the Blues in a 3-0 win against Glentoran. He was now Linfield’s first choice right back and, after playing for Northern Ireland at youth level, he was called up to his nation's senior team in March 2022.
A few months prior, in January that year, Trai had made the switch to Wearside. He signed a four-and-a-half year contract, arriving for an undisclosed fee. Reports suggest we only paid £150,000 for his signature, although there is thought to be a hefty sell-on fee. He made his Sunderland debut at the Jonny Rocks Stadium where we lost 2-1 to Cheltenham Town.
Despite not getting much game time in his early days at Sunderland, Hume has become a stalwart at right back. An injury to Lynden Gooch gave the then 20-year-old an opportunity, and as you can tell he took it with both hands. Hume became more of a fan favourite after he clattered James McClean at the DW Stadium in December of 2022. During that season, to cover for injuries, he was often deployed as a left back and despite not being a natural left-footer, he never looked out of place on the opposite flank.
In our surprising play-off run Trai even played at centre back, against arguably the most direct side in the league, Luton. Injuries to all of our centre backs forced Mowbray's hand and he had to play Hume in the middle, and in the first leg he actually scored the goal to put us 2-1 up. Of course we all know how things transpired in the second leg but Hume's commitment to the cause deserves some praise.
He remained a regular in the team under the Mowbray/Beale/Dodds season, highlights included assisting the first goal against Southampton as we thumped them 5-0 and scoring our first goal in a 3-1 versus Norwich City. There was one notable incident that occurred between him and Michael Beale in our former head coach's final game in charge. In the 82nd minute he was substituted off and attempted to high five Beale or perhaps shake his hand, but he was completely blanked by his boss and this sparked outrage amongst our fans. It may have caused Beale to lose his job a bit sooner you could easily suspect, as it was clear in that moment he had lost the dressing room. Individually, it was a good season for the Northern Irishman even if it was a disaster for the club as a whole.
This season, he's remained virtually ever present on the team sheet and recently scored and assisted in the same game when we played Plymouth Argyle. Hume has reached an SAFC milestone this campaign as well, hitting 100 appearances for the club. There has been a lack of competition for him in his right back role, which maybe led to some complacency at times, but generally he's been very good during most of his matches. He's now been nominated for January's Player of the Month award!
