Mundle was a key figure in the latter stages of last season, playing a leading role in the play-off final win at Wembley, but the winger suffered a serious hamstring injury in the summer that required summer and kept him on the sidelines for more than three months.
He has been building his fitness back up in the last few weeks, and after a goalscoring appearance for the Under-21s a week earlier, he was finally able to make his first Premier League appearance as a second-half substitute for Chemsdine Talbi in Sunderland’s thrilling comeback win against Bournemouth at the weekend.
“I’ve waited a long time for this, for this Premier League debut,” said Mundle, who joined Sunderland from Standard Liege in February 2024. “I couldn’t have asked for a better place to make my debut, and what a game to mark it. And obviously, most important, it’s three points for the team. I’m just happy.
“Obviously, watching on the side, you just want to be out there helping the team as much as you can. But I think your presence around the training ground when you're not involved, in the changing room, is vital as well. I’d like to think I was positive around the training ground.
“I just believe in opportunities, and opportunities will always come back around. It was not my time, at the start of the season, but now maybe it is. It was good that I put the hamstring issue to bed with that surgery, so hopefully I can just move on and kick on from there.”
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Sunderland had already begun their salvage job when Mundle came onto the field at the weekend, with goals from Enzo Le Fee and Bertrand Traore having turned a two-goal deficit into a 2-2 scoreline.
Within six minutes of being on the field, Mundle was watching his fellow substitute, Brian Brobbey, fire home what proved to be the winner, and while the afternoon might have started poorly, with Sunderland conceding two goals in the opening 15 minutes, Mundle was always confident a fightback was on the cards.
“I know this might sound a bit arrogant, but I wasn’t really too fazed about it [going two goals down] because of the belief I have in this team,” said Mundle. “I think a lot of the boys were the same as well, just with the belief we have in this team.
“Obviously, at home, we have a good record and we know what we can do with our fans as well. I knew we would get one back, and then from there, it's just how we deal with the adversities, to be honest. Just making sure they don't get the next goal and then going from there.”
The victory was the ideal way for Sunderland to head into their most daunting week of the season, with Wednesday’s trip to Anfield to face reigning champions Liverpool preceding Saturday’s visit to the Etihad Stadium to take on Manchester City.
“We've had this win here, so I just feel like we're going to be confident going into these next two games,” said Mundle. “If it's not meant to be against Liverpool, we're still going to go with the same confidence against Man City.
“This is all I've dreamed of as a kid, so I'm looking forward to these next two games, just seeing what we can do. I’m sure we can [pick up points]. I’ve just got the belief in this team.”