Former Sunderland shot stopper Thomas Sorensen reveals he was in talks with Udinese and Ajax prior to contact with the Black Cats. At the time, he was a Denmark youth international playing for Odense BK with less that 50 first-team appearances to his name.
The Dane admits he didn't know much about the club or city prior to the move, but a sit down with Peter Reid was all he needed to make up his mind.
Speaking to SAFC Unfiltered, Sorensen said: "It came about a little bit out of the blue really. I was highly regarded, I was in the Under-21 national team and I was sort of in and out, should I continue my career in Denmark or should I try to take one of the opportunities that was coming my way?
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"I was talking to Udinese, Ajax and then out of the blue Sunderland came in. I knew they had been in the Premier League but I didn't know too much about the city, the stadium or the club and I was sort of a little bit hesitant.
"But, I ended up going up and meeting with Peter Reid and seeing everything there. As soon as I talked to him and saw the people at the club, saw videos of the games and the atmosphere, I knew that was where I wanted to play.
"I was also given the opportunity by Peter Reid to at least start the season and that was important as well, to potentially be a first-team player."
Sørensen would make just shy of 200 appearances for the Black Cats during his time on Wearside and he knew from his first visit that it was the right move.
"For sure, that was the thing that inspired me to go there," Sørensen said. "To sense that passion, to live and breathe football which I've come to know is the way of life in the north east.
"I got to experience it in my first game against QPR - full stadium and fantastic atmosphere. I must say I was s****** myself a little bit in the dressing room before the game because it was a little bit different than playing in front of a couple of thousand back in Denmark.
"I hadn't played a lot of first-team games. To be fair, I talked to Peter Reid a few years later and he did say he'd given me four or five games and if I didn't perform he would have looked elsewhere."
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