Michael O'Neill has hailed Trai Hume's versatility as the Northern Ireland boss looks to best utilise the young defender.
It has been a season to remember for the former Linfield man, who has signed a new deal with Sunderland after becoming a mainstay of the team after breaking into the starting XI in the new year.
While Hume has played a lot of his football at right back O'Neill knows he is equally at home in a central defensive position, which is good news as he looks to integrate Conor Bradley and him in the squad.
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“The great thing about Trai is that I’ve seen him in a number of positions for Sunderland," said O'Neill.
“Trai is very flexible; he can play on the left if you need him to play there, he can play on the right.
“He predominantly plays right-back for Sunderland, but I’ve also seen him play towards the end of the season as a centre-back, which was a big ask because he wasn’t playing with a dominant centre-back wither, he was the most dominant one with Luke O’Nien as both Danny Batth and Daniel [Ballard] were both injured.
“I think Conor has maybe more in his locker than just us seeing him as a right-back.
“The decision for me in the previous two games was that we played with a back three and I had seen Conor play consistently as a right wing-back for Bolton.
“Trai had played as a right-back or a left-sided centre-back in a three, but I see two very young players who I’d be very surprised if they don’t amass a lot of caps for Northern Ireland."
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