Amid the ongoing chatter about his supposed Premier League quality and whether his ‘natural’ position is one in which we may need to upgrade in the future, two things are true of Trai Hume.
The first is that he is not, never has been and never will be ideally suited to the kind of peculiar hybrid midfield role that he’s currently being asked to fulfil by Régis Le Bris — not a reflection on his footballing ability, which I often feel goes unappreciated and is far more accomplished than is often highlighted.
The second fact about the no-nonsense Northern Ireland international is that even in our new world of exotic signings and dizzying transfer fees, he remains one of our best signings made on a pound-for-pound basis in the past decade, with the £200,000 paid to bring him to Wearside from Linfield now feeling like pennies — by both our recent standards of spending and what he’s actually given us since joining back in 2022.
Like fellow League One cohorts and Championship promotion winners Dennis Cirkin and Luke O’Nien, Hume has ridden the red and white wave all the way to the Premier League and is clearly very much central to Le Bris’ plans. Indeed, it would be easy for a player who’s climbed two divisions to look out of his depth at the highest level, but I genuinely don’t think that applies here.
Ahead of Saturday’s feisty draw with Manchester United, there may well have been some groans when the team sheet was published and it became clear that he would be slotting into midfield as we prepared to face Michael Carrick’s rejuvenated visitors.
With Dan Ballard suspended and Habib Diarra operating on fragile confidence and not in the starting eleven, it was Hume’s turn to take one for the team, switching positions as Lutsharel Geertruida (to brilliant effect, it must be said) was brought back into the fray and to my eyes, he did just fine, performing solidly and with no Hollywood passes yet no glaring and/or costly mistakes.
It’s often easy to realise when a footballer is a mile out of their comfort zone, but I didn’t get that sense on Saturday. Hume gave his all, didn’t shirk, and ultimately played his part in what was a highly commendable outcome. Surely that’s good enough?
Like his teammates, he’s grafted his backside off in order to help us into a position of mid-table security; indeed, if there’s one word that could be used to sum up his profile as a Sunderland player, perhaps ‘reliable’ is most fitting.
Last year, as we were gearing up for the end-of-season run that ultimately culminated in that never-to-be-forgotten Wembley playoff final, I wrote a piece in praise of Hume, highlighting his low-key, full-blooded approach to the game and how that seemed to gel perfectly with what Le Bris expected from his Sunderland players.
He was one of the true warriors of the 2024/2025 promotion team — who could forget that thunderous tackle on Ben Brereton Diaz that Hume himself infamously admitted was borne of exhaustion at the end of a gruelling game? — and one year on and close to the end of a season during which he’s gone through some harsh experiences as well as moments of sheer joy, where does he stand?
For me, in very good stead and although a recent rumour suggested that he was being eyed as a £30 million summer signing, I think he’ll remain a key player for us — hopefully during 2026/2027 and beyond.
From afar, there appears to have been absolutely no change in his attitude, demeanour, passion for the game, and willingness to fulfil whatever role is asked of him for the good of the team.
By trade, he’s a tough-tackling right back of rugged Ballymena stock and not an uber creative ball-playing midfielder, but the mark of the selfless, ego-free footballer is to do the job assigned to him to the best of his ability, and to do it without complaint.
That’s what Hume is currently doing, and so perhaps the spotlight should fall on Le Bris’ reasoning for shuffling him around the team as opposed to how he’s adapting.
If Brian Brobbey suddenly found himself deployed as a left back and Reinildo was asked to play up front, for example, we’d doubtless ask what the hell the head coach was playing at, but I do feel Hume occasionally gets a bit of a raw deal from our supporters, even if the faith of the man whose opinion really matters — Le Bris — is clearly very strong.
Sunderland can currently boast a range of exceptional technical footballers; lads who’ll dazzle us with skill, vision and sheer class. Does Hume fit into that category? Arguably not. Does that make him any less vital to us? Absolutely not.
He’s the epitome of a true team man, he represents our club as we expect a Sunderland player to do, and for all of the scrutiny he often receives, I think he can reflect on a job very well done during his maiden campaign in the English top flight.
