Dan Ballard was released by Arsenal as a schoolboy, suffered a broken ankle during a trial at Southampton and came close to joining Stevenage before an unexpected call from Andries Jonker pulled him back into the club’s system.
That intervention became the turning point of his career.
Ballard joined Arsenal’s academy at eight. At 14, he was told his time with the club was over. “I met with Liam Brady and he presented me with my documents saying I was being let go and I wouldn’t get another two years with Arsenal as a schoolboy.”
He pushed on, worked towards earning a scholarship and then broke his ankle during a trial at Southampton. Arsenal handled the rehabilitation but the injury left him without an immediate route back into the game. “I couldn’t go on trial anywhere or train with other clubs and it looked like the injury had put an end to my hopes,” he said back in 2019.
When he recovered, Stevenage offered him a scholarship and a clear path forward. “Stevenage liked me as a player and had offered me a scholarship which I was happy about.” Before he accepted, Jonker contacted him.
“Then I got a call from Andries Jonker at Arsenal. He told me he wanted me to come along with the under 18s to play in a friendly game against Bayern Munich. He said if things went well there was a possibility that I’d be taken on. That never happens.”
The decision was not straightforward. “Many people around me were sceptical and telling me not to go because I may have just been making up the numbers and I could risk losing everything offered to me at Stevenage.” Ballard trusted his instinct. “Something inside me was telling me to go. Possibly because I’d been rejected by Arsenal before and they changed their minds previously.”
His performance in the Bayern Munich game convinced Jonker. The news came before the plane landed. “It was the best flight ever,” Ballard said. “The other lads were really pleased for me but were shocked at the same time. No-one has known Arsenal to change their minds after releasing a player and no-one could believe it.”
Ballard earned a two year scholarship and progressed through the academy. He described what it meant to sign his first professional contract in 2018.
“Beginning this season as a professional footballer gave me another boost and further incentive to keep working hard to become the best I can be. I signed my professional contract last summer and I was immensely proud but at the same time, a bit relieved.
“My family and I had been expecting to hear if I would get my professional contract around February or March last year but we didn’t hear until a couple of months after so I was going into training wondering if ‘today was the day’. When it came, I sat down with Kwame Ampadu and Neil Banfield and they gave me the good news. I was so happy and at the same time, I realised that there was an even bigger challenge in front of me.”
He represented Arsenal at under 18 and under 23 level before gaining senior experience during loan spells at Swindon Town, Blackpool and Millwall.
In 2022, he joined Sunderland for €2.3m, where he has established himself while also becoming an important figure for Northern Ireland, making more than 30 senior appearances, although he was recently sent off in their World Cup qualifier.