Sunderland have broken their transfer record, signing Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan from French side Rennes for a fee in excess of £13m.
The Black Cats’ swoop for the former Udinese man surpasses the initial £10m that the club splashed out on their purchase of striker Darren Bent from Tottenham just last summer.
Gyan will fill the void left by Kenwyne Jones’ move to Stoke City and take a great deal of pressure off of Bent, who scored 24 Premier League goals last season and has two in his first three league matches this season, including the last-minute penalty that delivered a 1-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Gyan, who has 22 goals in 44 appearances for Ghana, has penned a four-year deal with his new club, and the deal went through with 20 minutes left before the closure of the transfer window.
Gyan’s signing comes amid the news that Fraizer Campbell will be out for six months due to a ruptured knee ligament suffered in the win over City, and with Martyn Waghorn off to Leicester City in a £3m deal. With Sunderland short on depth up front, Steve Bruce will likely hand his new record signing an immediate chance to make his mark upon the return from the international break, starting with a tie at Wigan on September 11.
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