Sunderland swoop for Ji

30 June 2011 17:00

South Korea international Ji Dong-won has become Sunderland's second signing in as many days as he completed his move from Chunnam Dragons.

The 20-year-old striker has joined the Black Cats for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract after a protracted wait for the administrative side of the deal to be tied up.

He will join record signing Asamoah Gyan and new boy Connor Wickham, who made his £8.1million switch to the Stadium of Light on Wednesday, in a revamped strike-force for the new campaign.

Just as they did to capture Wickham, Sunderland saw off competition to snap up their latest acquisition, and manager Steve Bruce was a happy man once again.

He said: "The boy has been in fantastic form for both club and country and he was one of South Korea's stand-out performers at the Asian Cup, so we are delighted to bring him to Sunderland.

"The Barclays Premier League is very different to the K-League, so there is hard work ahead, but you just have to look at players like Park Ji-sung and Lee Chung-yong to see how well Korean players are adapting to its pace and physicality."

Ji has six goals to his name in 11 senior internationals, and was on target four times during the Asian Cup in January as the South Koreans finished third.

The frontman, who stands at almost 6ft 2in, had a trial at Reading earlier in his career.

Bruce has wasted little time in embarking upon what promises to be an extensive rebuilding programme this summer with Wickham and Ahmed Elmohamady having already signed and Keiren Westwood and Sebastian Larsson due to formally complete free transfers to the Stadium of Light on Friday.

In addition, talks with Birmingham midfielder Craig Gardner are at an advanced stage with Sunderland confident he will also be wearing a red and white shirt next season.

Source: PA