Swapping the bright lights of London for the North-East mid-season was a big move for Pierre Ekwah - but the Sunderland midfielder has not regretted his decision for a second. Ekwah joined the Black Cats from West Ham in January, leaving behind his days playing U21 football for the Irons and joining Tony Mowbray's Championship side, following in the footsteps of defender Aji Alese who had made the same switch in the summer.
When Ekwah made the move, a play-off place seemed a distant dream for the Wearsiders but, four months on, they secured a top six finish and are gearing up for a semi-final Luton Town with the first leg taking place at the Stadium of Light tomorrow tea-time. "I spoke to him [Alese] before the discussions with Sunderland came up, and he just told me he was enjoying it there," said the 21-year-old, who was born in France before moving to England at 16 to join Chelsea's academy in 2018 and then moving to West Ham three years later.
"He said they were playing lots of young players, which was good, so when the opportunity came and I spoke with the sporting director [Kristjaan Speakman] and the gaffer [Mowbray], I was just thinking, 'Yeah, I need to get up here'. That's what I did, and I'm definitely not regretting my choice!
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"It was a big move in my young career. I moved to the UK when I was 16, but I'd always lived in London so I had my friends and my family in London with me.
"To move up here, far away from London, was a big move. But I'm ready to do what it takes to get to where I want to get.
"The move to Sunderland really helped me. I thought it was a great opportunity for me at the time, and now it's paying off because we're in the play-offs."
Ekwah already knew the backstory at Sunderland, having watched the Netflix series Sunderland 'Til I Die documenting the club's relegation from the Championship in 2017-18 and subsequent attempt to win promotion from League One. I wouldn’t say I knew lots [about the club]," he admitted.
"I obviously knew about Sunderland because they're a big club and I remember them being in the Premier League. I watched the Netflix documentary as soon as it came out because I love the inside bits in football clubs.
"Through that I kind of knew some of the players before I got here. I still feel it a bit weird, to be honest.
"I had the switch in the season so, in January, I went from U21s football with West Ham, where no one really knows what you're doing, to coming to Sunderland where wherever I walk, people recognise me. When I first started going to the stadium, people were shouting my name.
"I was saying, 'Are you really sure you want me to sign your shirt?' That switch was quite big.
"It's why I say the fanbase of Sunderland is crazy. "I really felt straightway that I was here at one of the biggest clubs in the country.
"Sometimes, when your team has to be in the Premier League, and it is not, the fanbase normally goes down. But with Sunderland, that doesn't exist.
"They are literally following you wherever you go. And when I say everywhere you go, I mean everywhere you go!
"When we went to Fulham [in the FA Cup], I went out onto the pitch and I just saw a wall of red and white. I was like, 'Wow, that’s crazy'.
"I really felt that, and the fanbase of Sunderland has really shocked me. I absolutely love playing at the Stadium of Light.
"I know when I am playing at home, I'm going to have goosebumps. There are 45,000 people there, they just want you to win, and the atmosphere is crazy."
Dealing with that level of interest and expectation is a world away from U21 football, but it is also very different from the footballing environment in France. Ekwah said: "You don't get anything like this in France.
"There isn't really an equivalent of that excitement of getting to the Premier League, the biggest league in the world. To be in the Championship, just getting into the play-offs is a massive achievement because of how difficult the Championship is, with so many games.
"Then, after, to get to Wembley, and then to win at Wembley in front of 90,000 fans, it's just crazy. Even just the fact that the game is on television, with so many people watching it, you don’t really get that outside of Ligue 1 in France.
"Even just thinking of it, it's crazy. Playing at Wembley [in a play-off final] would be mad."
Ekwah arrived on Wearside having yet to play any first-team football, and he was gradually integrated into the Sunderland team, making his early appearances from the bench before being handed the toughest of assignments for his first senior start, which came at eventual Championship-winners Burnley, where he helped the Black Cats come away with a point. He said: "I think the coach and the staff really helped me and took their time perfectly with my development.
"They gave me the team I needed to feel good, and put me on at the right time. They brought me in bit by bit, and after I got my first start at Burnley, everything then seemed to go well.
"I was starting games, and I just think they did a great job with me. I wasn't frustrated at all because the team was doing really well before I was there."
Mowbray has also worked with Ekwah to encourage the youngster to make the most of his physical attributes, with his 6ft 2in frame proving a real asset in a team that generally lacks height. "It was something I definitely took on board," said Ekwah.
"Coming from the U21s to the Championship, it's a massive change. First of all, we all know that English football is really physical anyway, but that's even more the case in the Championship.
"I needed to get that switch, which I think I've just about got my head around now. Now, I think I'm a lot more physical than I was before.
"Everything he [Mowbray] said about me and told me, I really took it in and tried to show him how I had changed on the pitch, whether that was in training or in a game."
The one setback Ekwah has experienced in his time at Sunderland came just a week after he had made his first start at Burnley, when he came off the bench late in the Good Friday game against Hull City at the Stadium of Light and conceded an injury-time penalty which allowed the Tigers to escape with a draw in an eight-goal thriller. But Mowbray immediately showed his faith in the youngster by including him in his starting XI for the Easter Monday trip to Cardiff City just three days later, which Ekwah says is the perfect example of why Sunderland's players enjoy playing under the head coach.
"It shows everything about him," says Ekwah. "When I started against Cardiff, I got a couple of messages from friends and family straightaway saying, 'I really like your coach because of what he has done for you. Not a lot of other people would have done it'.
"I had come on for maybe ten minutes [against Hull], gave away the penalty and we drew 4-4 because of that penalty. But then the next game, you're starting.
"The trust he puts in you really means a lot. You know that he's not going to change his opinion of you just because of one mistake.
"He still trusts you, and when he put me back in the team, he told me that he still trusted me to go out and express myself. That's why he's a good man, and it's why everyone will fight for him.
"You saw that in the last game [at Preston, when Sunderland won 3-0 to clinch a play-off place] - everyone was celebrating together at the end. Little things, and little details during the season, can make something big and create a situation where you can do something big because of that."
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