We spoke to Elliot Embleton after he agreed a three-and-a-half-year deal with the Cumbrians.
Speaking to CUTV, he said: “I'm buzzing to be here. It's a long-term project which I spoke to the manager and Rob [Clarkson] about and I'm excited to be a part of that.
We asked Elliot about his career, of which he started at Sunderland, he said: “Sunderland is my home club, I was there from six-years-old until I was 25, so a long time to progress from being there as a six, seven-year-old lad to going and playing in the first team and winning at Wembley with them was a proud moment for me and my family.
"Obviously being supporters and being associated with the club all through my youth, it was a massive moment for me but it was only just the start of all the hard work.”
Embleton netted at Wembley as Sunderland secured promotion to the Sky Bet Championship back in 2022. Speaking on that goal, the midfielder said: “It's probably the best moment so far of my career. I picked it up, drove and I just remember hitting one and I don't know if the 'keeper should have saved it or not but it went in anyway and yeah, that was a massive day in my career.”
That wasn’t Elliot’s only appearance at Wembley, he went on to say: “In my first spell at Blackpool, I went on loan, I think we were 16th in the league. When I first joined them, we worked our way up into the play-offs and went on a great run and fortunately again, won at Wembley.”
United's new addition also spent time on loan at Grimsby and Derby whilst contracted to the Black Cats.
“I learned an awful lot. I think I was 18 or 19 when I went to Grimsby and that was big for me, progression in the game, just playing games week in, week out. And then obviously went to Blackpool, played a little bit for Sunderland and then went to Derby.
“The Derby spell was cut short but again, it was all good for me, for my development.”
Last summer, Embleton made the switch to Blackpool permanently, speaking on that deal, he stated: "It all came about because of Neil Critchley, I had him in the first spell at Blackpool.
"He knew what type of player I was and that I basically fit into his style. It just didn't work out this time unfortunately.”
Touching on his injury record, he added: “I was playing for Sunderland at the time and had a few seasons where everything just wasn't going right basically but that's behind me now and I'm just looking forward to getting back to it.
“It massively helped me with the mental side of the game. With going from playing every week and having good times, playing in the Championship, playing more or less every game in the season before in League One, to not going to play at all is a massive kick. But yeah, it just helps you mentally and when you come back you're stronger and you focus more on keeping your body right and keeping playing.”
We then moved on to his move here, we asked how it came about and when he learned of the interest, he responded:
“A couple of weeks ago, Rob [Clarkson] got in touch and just explained what was going on and just said there's a long-term project and I was quite excited by that and I wanted to be part of it.
“It was also about playing the style of football that suits me under this manager and getting games in again and enjoying it.”
Elliot then spoke on his conversations with the gaffer, saying: “I’ve spoke about the way he wants to play and the way he could see me fitting into that, so yeah, just mainly about the football.”
On discussions with the owners, he added: “I've just briefly met them there but they seem like really good people and really want to help the club.”
Elliot then talked through any familiar faces in the squad, saying: "I know [Jon] Mellish from a long time ago now, I've played with Ethan [Robson] a good few times and Charlie [Wyke] and Jordan [Jones] were at Sunderland with Dylan [McGeouch] as well, so yeah, quite a few lads.”
Describing his game, he said: “I would say attacking, I create chances, try and score some goals and get us in the final third.”
When asked about short-term and long-term targets during his time at Brunton Park, he responded: "The league position is the league position but I'm sure we can start stringing some wins together and start climbing that league.”
“Just get as many goals and assists as I can and obviously winning games as well.
“Obviously we want to stay up the season, so at the minute it's getting the games in, getting the wins and looking forward to the next season and hopefully push on from there."
