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James Copley: The under-the-radar Luke O’Nien situation at Sunderland that nobody is really talking about Luke O’Nien looks set for another important Sunderland role as Régis Le Bris prepares his side for the new Premier League season Luke O'Nien will, in all likelihood, start Sunderland's Premier League season at centre-back against Ipswich Town. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about that sentence is just how unremarkable it now feels. There is no widespread panic about Omar Alderete potentially not being ready to start and very little debate over whether Sunderland can trust O'Nien at the heart of their defence. Most supporters, from what I can see, are absolutely fine with it. For a player who was once hooked at half-time against Charlton Athletic on his Sunderland debut in League One, having started the game in midfield, that is quite the turnaround. It is also perhaps the ultimate acknowledgement of what O'Nien has achieved during an extraordinary eight years on Wearside. How many times has O'Nien been written off? At different stages, almost every conceivable question has been asked of O'Nien. Was he good enough for Sunderland in League One? Could he really make the step up to the Championship? Was he good enough to play regularly in a team capable of winning promotion? Surely, eventually, the Premier League would expose his limitations? I include myself in that because I think most people who have watched Sunderland closely over the last eight years have questioned him at some point. That is hardly unreasonable either. O'Nien has made mistakes, endured difficult spells and sometimes looked as though Sunderland's rapid progression might finally leave him behind. Yet every time the level has increased, he has found a way of increasing his own. Managers have changed, teammates have changed and Sunderland's recruitment has become increasingly ambitious, but somehow O'Nien has remained. League One, the Championship, the Premier League and now the Europa League – literally every competition in between – and he is still standing. Even last season looked like it might be the end Last season was arguably the greatest test yet. O'Nien had shoulder surgery, missed the start of the campaign and watched Sunderland spend huge sums strengthening a squad which had suddenly gone from Championship promotion hopefuls to a Premier League operation packed with international quality. His second Premier League appearance ended with a red card against Manchester City, and he did not make his first top-flight start until halfway through the campaign. There were periods when you could quite reasonably wonder whether this was finally the point at which Sunderland had moved beyond him. Even after establishing himself, there were setbacks. A mistake away at Newcastle United could easily have become another piece of evidence for those convinced he wasn't Premier League standard. Instead, as has happened repeatedly throughout his Sunderland career, something went wrong, and O'Nien responded. His performances improved considerably afterwards, and by the end of the season he was producing some of his best football of the campaign. That form has continued throughout pre-season, and suddenly, with Sunderland preparing for Ipswich, the conversation around O'Nien has changed completely. Régis Le Bris now knows exactly what he has Alderete has been recovering from a knee issue and, while Le Bris believes he could make the squad at Portman Road, Sunderland are understandably unlikely to throw him immediately back into the starting XI. 12 months ago, losing an established centre-back immediately before the season might have created far greater concern around O'Nien stepping in. Instead, Le Bris sounds entirely comfortable with the prospect. O'Nien's performances have allowed Sunderland to be patient with Alderete rather than rushing him back, and that in itself tells you how dramatically his standing has changed over the last 12 months. "Absolutely," Le Bris said when asked whether O'Nien was ready. "Luke now has one year in the Premier League; when we first started last season, we didn't know [how he would fare]. Now we know he's ready to be competitive in that league. He's an excellent club captain, and he's very good on the pitch, so it's very positive for us ahead of the season." That quote probably sums the situation up better than anything else. 12 months ago, Sunderland didn't know. There were legitimate questions about whether O'Nien could translate everything that had made him successful in the Championship to the highest level. Now they have a full season of evidence telling them that he can. Sunderland still need defensive reinforcements None of this means Sunderland should suddenly abandon their plans to strengthen defensively. I still think another left-sided centre-back would improve the squad and there remains a clear need for additional strength at left-back, particularly with Premier League and Europa League football creating a much heavier workload. Alderete remains an important player when available and Sunderland have other central defensive options, but a European campaign demands greater depth. The point is that another signing would now arrive to compete with O'Nien rather than simply replace somebody Sunderland desperately need to upgrade. There are other fitness considerations ahead of Ipswich too. Nordi Mukiele has been dealing with a minor problem, and Le Bris suggested both he and Alderete could begin the opening game on the bench, potentially leaving Thomas Meunier in pole position to start after an encouraging 45-minute appearance against RC Lens. "With Nordi it's not too serious, it's a shame because I think his pre season was really good," Le Bris said. "So just minor, but we need to take care of him. With Omar, it was an injury during the last game, just before the last game – so it's just about stiffness. It's not major, but it's important to build his condition, so probably both of them should be on the bench for Ipswich, I think." From League One to Europe Perhaps we have simply become numb to how ridiculous O'Nien's Sunderland story actually is. He has travelled with the club from League One all the way to European football, repeatedly surviving moments when it appeared the next stage of Sunderland's evolution might finally prove one step too far. Surviving probably does him a disservice, though. O'Nien has adapted. There are Sunderland players with greater natural physical attributes and others with more obvious technical quality, but very few can match his capacity to absorb a setback, work on his weaknesses and come back better. The Echo has launched a new WhatsApp SAFC Channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates direct to your phone. Simply click this link to join our SAFC WhatsApp channel. There is no great fuss around him. No drama. Just relentless work, self-belief and an ability to keep proving people wrong. The fact that Sunderland supporters are now largely comfortable with him starting a Premier League opener probably says more about his progress than any individual performance ever could. And O'Nien will make another mistake at some point. Every defender does and, given his style of play, there will inevitably be another afternoon when something goes wrong, and the familiar questions resurface. When that happens, it is probably worth remembering the pattern we have watched play out time and time again. Something goes wrong. Luke O'Nien gets questioned. Luke O'Nien responds. At this point, why would anybody expect anything different?