Sunderland’s Star of the International Break

Name: Patrick van Aanholt
Position: Defender
Country: Netherlands

Despite being a defender, Van Aanholt is Sunderland’s second top goalscorer in all competitions so far this season with 4 strikes.

Despite John O’Shea captaining the Republic of Ireland over the Easter period, plus DeAndre Yedlin and Seb Larsson featuring for USA and Sweden respectively, Patrick van Aanholt will come back to the Stadium of Light this week with the biggest smile of the lot following the international break.

The 25-year-old earned his third and fourth international caps for the Netherlands after featuring as substitutes against France and England.

After some impressive displays for Sunderland at left-back this campaign; the former Chelsea defender earned an international call-up under national team coach Danny Blind, firstly playing 13 minutes during the Oranje’s 3-2 defeat to France last Friday after goals from Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and Blaise Matuidi.

That was the defender’s first taste of international football since May 2014.

Then Van Aanholt replaced fellow defender Jetro Willems as the Netherlands dampened Roy Hodgson’s Three Lions’ Euro 2016 preparations with a surprise 2-1 win inside Wembley Stadium on Tuesday night, after England had defeated reigning world champions Germany 2-1 in Berlin just days earlier.