Stephen Elliott: The first time I saw Aiden McGeady train I knew he was special and why Sunderland should extend his stay

However, I don’t think there’s one single player in League One who could put in a performance even close to the one he did at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

I was lucky enough to have played with Aiden at international level at various stages, but I always remember my first time seeing him up close.

He came into one of the underage groups within the Ireland squads many years back, even though he was a few years younger than the rest of us. Walking off the training pitch, you may not be surprised to hear, he was the player we were all talking about.

Even at the age of 16 or 17 he was doing things with a football that the rest of us could only dream of doing. He had no fear and had that arrogance about him, and you just knew he would be a big star.

Watching him now coming up towards his 35th birthday and still producing week in, week out is an absolute pleasure.

For this reason I’d be seriously surprised if the club can’t come to some arrangement to keep him at the club for a couple more years.

He still looks sharp and still has that change of pace that leaves defenders trailing in his wake, this despite him coming towards his twilight years.

He is a match winner and Sunderland need winners if they are to climb up the divisions over these next couple of seasons.

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