Birmingham City official website screenshot
Sunderland official website screenshot
At 1 a.m. on September 1 in Beijing time, on the last day before the close of the summer transfer window of the Premier League, there were many eye-catching transactions among some mid-table teams.
Birmingham officially announced Hleb's joining
Birmingham officially announced that they successfully rented midfielder Hleb from Barcelona for one season. In addition to Hleb, Birmingham also signed captain of Moscow Spartak and Czech international player Zelený on the last day.
Hleb is 29 years old this year. Last season, he was rented by Barcelona to Stuttgart. Manager McLeish of Birmingham felt very happy about signing this former Arsenal wing. Hleb is a top player, our dream (to sign him) has come true.
We talked with him last year, but we didn't have a chance to get him then. We decided to try again before the close of the (summer) transfer window, and found out that it might work this time. This is an important signing for us, and we are glad to have him. He is a very creative player with excellent skills, outstanding ball sense and very fast speed. He has international match experience and played for strong teams such as Stuttgart, Arsenal and Barcelona.
Sunderland signed World Cup Red Shooter Gyan for more than 13 million pounds
On the morning of August 31 local time, Gyan arrived at Sunderland club. Sunderland sold their main striker Kenwyne Jones to Stoke City this summer, and needed to introduce a main striker to pair up with Darren Bent, while Gyan was the number one target in the eyes of Black Cats manager Bruce. Finally, Sunderland officially announced that they introduced Gyan at a high price of more than 13 million pounds which set a new record of the club's transfer fee, and Ghanaian striker signed a four-year contract with Sunderland.
In the South Africa World Cup, Gyan scored three goals for the Ghana team. In the 1/8 final against the United States team, Gyan contributed a decisive goal in extra time, helping the Ghana team historically enter the quarterfinals of the World Cup. So far, Gyan has scored 22 goals in 44 matches for the Ghana national team, with a very high efficiency in scoring for the national team.
Gyan joined Rennes from Udinese for a transfer fee of 8 million Euros in the summer of 2008 when he was 24 years old. So far, he has played 47 matches in the French league for Rennes and scored 14 goals.
(Anran)