Brobbey is making a big impression at the World Cup with the Netherlands

Luke O'Nien believes training up against World Cup star Brian Brobbey helped him produce his strong run of form at the end of the Premier League campaign.

Brobbey has quickly become a cult hero on Wearside after an impressive first season at the club, and underlined both his ability and progress by scoring a brace for the Netherlands against Sweden over the weekend. As he waited for an opportunity to get into the Sunderland starting XI this season, O'Nien would often be directly up against Brobbey in the 'starters v subs' sessions close to Premier League games.

O'Nien believes training against players of Brobbey's calibre on a regular basis was a key reason why he was able to make an impact at top-tier level as Sunderland surged to Europa League qualification in the closing weeks of the season. O'Nien's game time steadily increased in the second half of the campaign and after Dan Ballard picked up a red card at Wolves, the experienced defender took his opportunity to play a vital part in wins over Everton and Chelsea that saw Sunderland leap to seventh in the final Premier league table.

"I think he's slightly edged [the duels] - and by slightly I mean a lot!" O'Nien said.

"But it's little things, I ask him every day if he's successful against me, what do I need to do there? What didn't you like, what did you like? And I ask him all the time. As I'm training against him, I'm asking him questions, 'what about that?' And he goes, yeah, yeah. And then he'll go around me, and I'm like, 'I wasn't even there', so what do I do there? There's just an open dialect with him and you can see how good he is.

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"He's one of the best in the Premier League. So if I can find ways to deal with him even though I'm not always successful, but again, I watch that back when I travel. I watch the clips against Brian, and I go, 'OK, let's try and do this differently next time'. It's just working out, that's all it is. It's trying to work it out, be in the right positions, and it's all about timing.

"I've just going to keep fine-tuning that for the rest of my life and yeah, I'm grateful I've got these players to make me better."

Brobbey and the Netherlands are back in World Cup action when they face Tunisia in their final group game on Friday night (midnight UK time). With four points already on the board, Brobbey and team mates Robin Roefs and Lutsharel Geertruida look set for an extended stay at the competition.

O'Nien will report back to the Academy of Light for pre-season training in early July and looks set to once again have an important part to play on and off the pitch as the Black Cats begin their preparations for the campaign ahead.

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