Sunderland confirm Benjani deal
Sunderland complete loan signing of Benjani Mwaruwari from Man City
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Wednesday, 03, Feb 2010 08:11
By Alistair Potter.
Sunderland have been granted permission to complete the signing of Manchester City striker Benjani Mwaruwari after the deadline for English transfers on Monday.
The 31-year-old Zimbabwean moves to the Stadium of Light on loan until the end of the season, but the deal was not ratified in time because of technical problems in sending the notification to the Premier League.
However, after presenting their case to the governing body - including evidence of the issues experienced by Sunderland - the league and the Football Association agreed to sign off on the deal.
Club chief executive Steve Walton explained: "It has been well documented that we had horrendous problems with our communications network.
"We sent the Premier League and FA documentation showing the issues, which they reviewed and agreed that everything was in order.
"We would like to sincerely thank them for their consideration and we are delighted that we have been able to finalise this deal."
Benjani has had limited first-team action with City since the beginning of the season due to a significant amount of competition among the strikers - who include Argentinean international Carlos Tevez, Welsh international Craig Bellamy and Peruvian international Roque Santa Cruz.
But Black Cats manager Steve Bruce believes the player can be a genuine threat and provide competition for places with current first-choice pairing Kenwyne Jones and Darren Bent.
"He's a big, strong, powerful centre forward and one we've been tracking for a long time," said Bruce.
"I'm delighted that we've been able to bring him to the club, he'll bring another dimension to our striking options and will be a great addition to the squad."
Benjani, the current Zimbabwe captain, cost City £7.5 million when he joined from Portsmouth in February 2008
He is Sunderland's third signing of the January transfer window following the arrival of defenders Matthew Kilgallon and Alan Hutton, and he is Bruce's tenth signing since taking over on Wearside.