Chairman Niall Quinn has outlined the five reasons which prompted Sunderland to accept a loan offer from Al-Ain for striker Asamoah Gyan.
The Ghana international sealed a lucrative season-long deal with the United Arab Emirates club on Saturday, less than 48 hours after informing Sunderland boss Steve Bruce of his desire to fight for his place at the Stadium of Light. Bruce revealed his frustration after the weekend loss to Chelsea, implying Gyan had moved solely for financial gain.
But Quinn on Monday confirmed Sunderland had their reasons for letting their record signing depart and in a statement on the club's official website, he said: "From the moment Asamoah returned for pre-season training we could tell that there were people trying to move him on."
He added: "We hoped it would pass by, rebuking approaches from the Premier League, France and Turkey and felt the player would settle back down and continue to help our cause.
"Throughout this time we were also receiving real interest from Al-Ain, but it looked as if that too had lost momentum by last Wednesday.
"Steve spoke to Asamoah on Thursday morning, asking him to knuckle down and we were all set to move on. Later that day however Al-Ain began a prolonged effort to get the deal back on track and this turned the player's attentions once more to a possible move.
"Come Friday, the chairman of Al-Ain and his advisors had flown into Newcastle and arrived at our training ground to discuss a potential deal for Asa.
"They were very professional but determined to sign the player and at this point we took a number of things into consideration: the player's obviously negative demeanour in and around the training ground.
"The fact that the transfer window in the UAE had over 50 days remaining, meaning this was unlikely to go away; the clear desire of the player to leave; the forthcoming African Nations Cup, which would have meant losing Asamoah for up to six weeks in the new year; the obvious economic benefits to our club in the terms of the final deal laid out to us.
"In the early hours of Saturday morning chief executive Margaret Byrne and myself agreed a loan deal to allow Asamoah his wish to move but that would also, and more importantly, protect the club should things not work out for the player."
Source: PA
