Sunderland have confirmed they have completed a deal for Le Havre midfielder El-Hadji Ba.
The France Under-20 international has signed a three-year deal at the Stadium of Light and becomes the seventh man to join the club since the end of last season. He has already joined up with his new team-mates and manager Paolo Di Canio at their training camp in Italy.
Velez Sarsfield full-back Gino Peruzzi will also head for England on Thursday with a view to completing his move to Sunderland.
A product of Le Havre's youth set-up, Ba broke into the first team set-up at the beginning of 2012 and went on to make 12 league appearances.
He follows Valentin Roberge, Modibo Diakite, Cabral, Jozy Altidore, David Moberg Karlsson and Duncan Watmore into the club, and the list of newcomers could be boosted further within the next 24 hours.
Argentinian club Velez Sarsfield have confirmed full-back Peruzzi is also set to join the Black Cats.
In a statement on their official website, www.selezsarsfield.com.ar, they revealed they have finally agreed a deal with the Premier League club for the 21-year-old's signature.
The statement said: "Velez Sarsfield and Sunderland Association Football Club have reached an agreement to transfer the player Gino Peruzzi."
Velez say the player and two club officials will head for the Stadium of Light on Thursday in a bid to finalise the transfer.
The news will come as a major boost to Di Canio after it appeared that the proposed deal had stalled earlier this week
Source: PA
