Belgian defender Laurens De Bock has revealed a desire to play in a 'majority' of fixtures this season for Sunderland, as reported by the Chronicle.

The left-back was a deadline day capture from Leeds United and he's going up against youngster Denver Hume for a place in the first team. Whilst he hasn't yet spoken to the academy graduate properly, De Bock is determined to take his spot on the left side of the defence.

“We haven’t spoken about that, we just have to see who’s best in training,” he said when asked about being back up to the youngster.

“I can make him stronger, he can make me stronger and the best will play. But I’ve obviously come to play the majority of games.”

De Bock is not an attacking wing back as such, he's in the 'old-school' left back mould as he explained in detail.

“I’m a real defender, I like to tackle. I like to cross the ball too, I’m really a team player. Now a lot of coaches want the backs to go really high and play attacking football but I’m more defensive than attacking."

He also revealed that if needed, he can play on the left of a three-man backline, something Jack Ross toyed with in the early stages of this campaign.

“In Belgium sometimes we play with three behind, and I played on the left side of the three. The manager talked with me to say it was really about the left-back position (at Sunderland).”

The Black Cats had a lay off last week thanks to the international break, but they travel to Accrington Stanely this weekend with De Bock looking to make his debut.

The Verdict

It's interesting to see De Bock speaking about playing on the left of a three; that's really not where he's expected to be if they do go back to that system. Denver Hume looked lost as the left wing back and would surely be replaced by De Bock.

However, if Ross remains as a four then surely the Belgian will get the nod. In that set up he can be more defensive and let the players ahead of him do their duty.

The one worry is the modern full backs do need an attacking bias, even in a 4-2-3-1 formation. De Bock's insistence that he's an old style defender might worry Sunderland fans that they've once again gone for functional over attacking.

He's got a bit to prove in the coming weeks, that's for sure.