Get to know our latest recruit Australian defender Nectarios Triantis who is set to join Sunderland from A-League side Central Coast Mariners with a deal struck last week.
Currently on international duty, Triantis is due to link up with the Club following the conclusion of the Toulon tournament.
Triantis, a 20-year-old central defender, is of Greek origin and started his footballing journey by going through the ranks at Sydney Olympic. When he first joined Sydney in 2014, Triantis was originally an attacking midfielder or winger by trade as he began his development into football. But now standing at 1.91 metres tall, Triantis height has seen him nurture his game into becoming an athletic defender. ‘It’s been quite the transition’ he told reporters back in November 2022 as Central Coast Mariners pushed for a league title.
Nectarios is also part of a large family with seven brothers, two of which have played for Sydney Olympic, Chris and Peter. There are no strangers to Australian football in the Triantis family.
Prior to this season’s success, Triantis had played just seven minutes of A-League football with Western Sydney Warriors before making the move to the Mariners in the summer of 2022. Desperate for game time, he was tasked with forging his own pathway into the first-team.
The six-foot three-inch defender would then go on to play a crucial role in an odds-defying campaign which saw Central Coast Mariners crowned as A-League champions.
Triantis featured 25 times for the Mariners as they finished in second place in the league behind Melbourne City. In a play-off style format between the top four clubs, Mariners and Triantis would overcome a two-legged affair with Adelaide United winning 4-1 on aggregate.
The Grand Final was a moment to savour in his infant career to date as they swept Melbourne aside with a 6-1 victory in Western Sydney.
During a season where he kept five clean sheets for his side, Triantis was named in the A-League Team of the Season for the 2022-23 campaign. A stark indication of his rapid rise in Australian football where he has impressed footballing scouts from across the globe with Sunderland beating off competition to his signature this summer.
After building his reputation across the other side of the planet, Triantis has been tipped to play for the Australian national team by his now former head coach by Nick Montgomery.
Triantis is a regular in the Olyroos Under-20 set-up featuring 11 times and scoring one goal. But following his title-winning campaign with Central Coast Mariners, Montgomery predicts a bright future with the national team.
After a short break following the conclusion of the Toulon tournament, a future in the England beckons with our second recruit of the summer saying he is looking forward to joining ‘a prestigious Club’ and he is ‘ready for the challenge’.