Lowly Finish At Sunderland Felt Like ‘Slap In The Face’ Admits Black Cats Loan Star | OneFootball

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Sunderland out-on-loan star Pierre Ekwah has admitted that when the Black Cats finished 16th after aiming for promotion, it felt like a slap in the face, while fighting to stay up with Saint-Etienne in Ligue 1 is a very different challenge.

Ekwah came through the esteemed youth academies of West Ham and Chelsea before he was picked up by Championship side Sunderland in January 2023.

He played 61 times for the Black Cats senior side, but in the summer window, he was loaned out to Ligue 1 strugglers Saint-Etienne, who have an option to buy him for €7m at the end of the season.

Ekwah feels that pushing for promotion and fighting to stay up requires the same mental strength as he insisted that winning becomes essential in both situations.

The 23-year-old midfielder insisted that playing in Ligue 1 is a completely different pressure from pushing for promotion in the English Championship.

The Black Cats finished as low as 16th last season, and Ekwah described that feeling of finishing that low after pushing for promotion felt like a slap.

“I went from a club that was playing for promotion to a club that’s playing for survival, both have the same mental demands”, Ekwah was quoted as saying by French outlet Poteaux-Carres.

“If you’re playing for survival, you owe it to yourself to win. If you’re playing for the title, you have to win.

“Last season at Sunderland, we were playing for promotion, but we finished 16th; that was a slap in the face.

“Coming to Saint-Etienne, it’s a different kind of pressure, in terms of the club and Ligue 1.”

Les Verts are currently struggling to stay up in the French top tier as they sit second bottom in the league table; Ekwah will look to help them avoid relegation with nine games to go in the campaign.

Now it remains to be seen if the former French youth international will come back to Sunderland, who are pushing to get promotion, next term or if he will end his Black Cats spell after two years.