On This Day (25 July 2008) Irish midfielder signs on at the Stadium of Light!

Photo by Patrick Bolger/Getty Images

As Sunderland were preparing for their second top-flight season under Roy Keane, the manager was busy trying to get his squad built for the competition that lay ahead.

Midfield was a focal point – particularly after the news that Dwight Yorke would miss the start of the season following fracturing his cheekbone in a friendly clash with Vitoria de Setubal goalkeeper Nikola Milojevic only a few days earlier.

Spurs’ Teemu Tainio had already agreed to a move, with teammates Pascal Chimbonda, Younes Kaboul

and Steed Malbranque also expected to follow him through the door.

One unheralded arrival, however, was Irish youngster David Meyler, whose signing was announced on this day in 2008.

Coming from Keane’s hometown club Cork City, the 19-year-old was one of the most highly rated prospects from the Emerald Isle, and despite his relative inexperience, he had his sights set on the first team.

Photo by Patrick Bolger/Getty Images

I’m here to succeed, I’m not here to fail. My ambition is to break into the first team as soon as I can. I want to do it here, and hopefully I can.

Keane is a legend where I come from. Everyone grew up watching him play and that included me. He’s given me a great opportunity here with Sunderland and obviously I’ll hopefully repay him.

I already know some of the lads here, the lads from Cork. Obviously I know Roy [O’Donovan] from our time with Cork, but I also know Liam [Miller] and young Conor Hourihane from the youth team, so I shouldn’t have any problems settling in.

In addition to Meyler’s arrival, the Spurs trio of Malbranque, Chimbonda and Kaboul were expected to be sealed soon.

Chimbonda was busy negotiating a pay-off from Daniel Levy (good luck with that one) while Malbranque’s move was expected to go through in the coming days. Younes Kaboul, meanwhile, had been expected to join the club too, despite his agent’s initial ‘earthquake’ comment.

The move had been expected to be completed a day earlier, after Kaboul had told Keane and chairman Niall Quinn he’d sign on at the Stadium of Light after talks with the pair, however, Kaboul’s failure to sign on the dotted line – and rumours of interest from Aston Villa – had caused nerves to jangle a little...

Another potential arrival was Marseille’s Nigerian full-back Taye Taiwo.

The left-back was in Korea ahead of the Olympics and was attracted by the prospect of playing under Keane, with the club reportedly having put in a £7m bid.

I am not aware of any bid from Sunderland. However, the Premier League is the best league in the world, it can turn anyone’s head, but you never know.

Roy Keane? If you don’t know Roy Keane, it means you don’t have a clue about football. He was a top, top player, so if you have a chance to learn with him it is good, but I love Marseille. I am playing in a great team, although you never know.

Meyler quickly returned to Irish shores, making his debut for the club in a 4-0 friendly win at Cobh Ramblers on 28th July – all of the goals coming from Irishmen, with Daryl Murphy, Roy O’Donovan and Anthony Stokes on the scoresheet; Stokes netting twice. Teemu Tainio also made his debut for the club in the game, with his three former Spurs colleagues expected imminently.

Any notion that he was going to be thrust into first-team action quickly disspated, however. While he was on the bench at Stamford Bridge in the game Jordan Henderson came on as sub for his Sunderland debut, Meyler didn’t make a Sunderland first team appearance until December 2009, when Steve Bruce handed him a start at Ewood Park as Sunderland drew 2-2 with Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn.

Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images

His competitive side was underlined with a straight red in just his third game – minutes after coming on as a sub at Portsmouth – but Meyler made 11 starts in all competitions that season, however, a cruel injury struck in the penultimate game of the season, with the midfielder suffering a cruciate ligament injury in the first half.

It was a real shame. Now almost 21, Meyler – who stood at 6ft 2in – looked as if he was someone who could really stake a claim for a regular starting position the following season. Strong, athletic and mobile, he could carry the ball forward, had a good range of passing, and was strong in the tackle. He had an excellent desire to win, as well. No wonder Keane had liked him.

But fate conspired against him and left him with a prognosis of 12 months on the sidelines. As things stood, he’d have been a good bet to step into the boots vacated by Lorik Cana that summer, but the injury really set him back.

Photo by Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images

Bizarrely, however, he was back in action a lot sooner than imagined, making his comeback against Liverpool reserves in early November. Despite Bruce saying Meyler wouldn’t be rushed back, he started a first-team game away at Fulham just four weeks later, and disappeared again for another three weeks before starting at home to Blackpool.

It seemed strange at the time. He wasn’t on the bench in the other games, wasn’t given 10 or 15 minutes here and there, just put straight back into start. After such an injury – and a ridiculously quick recovery – concerns were naturally at the back of your mind, and unfortunately, in a game against Aston Villa just after the turn of the year, Meyler suffered a recurrence of the injury, which put him back on the sidelines.

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An initial six months out turned into 10 weeks, with Meyler thankfully slowly brought back into action occasionally from the bench.

He was a peripheral figure as Bruce’s tenure fizzled out and Martin O’Neill galvanised the club, albeit briefly, and bar one memorable game at Stoke when Robert Huth went through him to receive a red, he barely featured.

Fast forward to November 2012, and Meyler – who was now a full Republic international – was let go by O’Neill and rejoined Bruce, who had turned up at Hull. Meyler initially joined on loan before making the move permanent, and helped the Tigers gain promotion to the Premier League.

At Hull, he established himself as a good top-flight midfielder – he scored against us in the FA Cup Quarter Final (that Poyet game), scored a goal in the subsequent semi-final win and played in the final against Arsenal.

Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

Meyler played almost 200 games for Hull, and racked up 26 caps for Ireland, before hanging up his boots in 2019.

Another case of ‘what could have been’. While Meyler went onto have a good career, he wasn’t able to really fulfil the potential he had pre cruciate injury. If that first one hadn’t occured, I genuinely think he could have been one of our all-time midfielders.

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