Niall Huggins is happy with his decision to leave Leeds United for Sunderland.

The versatile defender was allowed to move to Sunderland on a permanent basis despite impressing for the Under-23s.

“It was a great experience to be near that first-team level in the Premier League," Huggins said ahead of Wales' 2023 UEFA European U21 Championship qualifier in Bulgaria on Tuesday.

“But Leeds are looking to bring in lots of high-quality players from around the world and, opportunity-wise for me, it was going to be hard to breakthrough.

“The pathway just got a bit smaller for me and when I heard Sunderland were interested it was huge."