Sunderland Striker Asamoah Gyan Makes Shock Move To Al-Ain!

And it looks like "the Parasites" got him after all. Just hours before Sunderland go into a huge game against Chelsea in the Premier League this afternoon at the Stadium of Light and Steve Bruce has revealed that United Arab Emirates outfit Al-Ain have taken unsettled Ghanian striker Asamoah Gyan on loan for the rest of the season. Gyan, Sunderland's biggest ever signing at £13 million from Rennes last summer, makes the shock switch to the footballing wilderness after signalling his unhappiness with how things were going from him in England. (Or is it because his agent can double the lad's wages over there? hmmm) Al-Ain and Turkish giants Galatasaray attempted to sign Gyan on a permanent deal last week, including offers made after the English transfer window had ended (you get a few more days in Turkey apparently) but in the end it's a loan move to the UAE club that has been agreed, Sunderland still believing Gyan can be a success story at the club. Steve Bruce said:

"Anyone who has seen Asamoah play will know that he hasn't been himself in recent months. This option suits all parties at the present time and the club is well-protected in the deal. Asamoah has three years remaining on his contract and of course my wish would be that he finds his spark again and we see him in red and white stripes next season in the form that first attracted us to him." Bruce has revealed Gyan has been unhappy since his goalscoring performance for Ghana against England in March; "Since that game at Wembley, all the parasites, as I call them, hover around. People are in his ear constantly trying to engineer a deal for him. Certainly since the England game, when he played at Wembley so well on the night, something has been troubling him. It's very difficult, the constant speculation no matter what you try to quash or quell, and the people around him, the people who want to make a fast buck, shall we say, and it affects him in the end."

Gyan's shock move leaves Sunderland ridiculously short up-front having sold Darren Bent in January to Aston Villa and with former Man Utd striker Frazier Campbell a long term absentee, the heavy burden of scoring for The Mackems now lies with loan striker Nicklas Bendtner, youngster Connor Whickham and midfielder Stephane Sessegnon.