I was talking to a friend of mine this evening about the Gyan signing. The point that we definitely agreed on was that both of us would have been pleased to have our clubs sign him (I'm Birmingham, he's Villa - 'friend' is a term I use loosely) but not at that price. Not even near that price in fact.

Sunderland seem to have a knack of overspending massively. Is Gyan really going to improve Sunderland's prospects to the value of £13million? Presumably a player of his transfer value isn't on miserly wages either. It just seems an obscene amount to be spending on someone that is, unless I am to be disproven, unlikely to affect the club in a way that will earn them several league positions. If he ends up flopping (though I presume he'll do okay - he really looked a handful throughout the World Cup and I even remember him being very sharp - albeit raw - in 2006), then will Sunderland really be able to recoup that sort of money?

If it had been Birmingham signing Gyan at that price, I'd have been unhappy. I was gutted when we missed out on N'Zogbia but pleased at the manager and board's resolve to stand by their principles and not be bullied into over-exerting the wage structure. Since Gold and Sullivan have left, there has been a concerted effort to understand where we stand in the footballing world and not to overindulge or get carried away, which I think is a commendable model compared to the approaches that some clubs make (see: any club in dire straits that was doing okay five years ago.)

I'm forced to review what I just wrote when I realised that Sunderland somehow made a profit on Kenwyne Jones. If Sunderland can rely on other clubs overspending on their players as much as they overspend themselves, then there is little to worry about.

I couldnt agree more with rckd,s comments in the second paragraph of the first post.
£13 Million for a player who had a halfway decent world cup?
Willing worker yes,but still to be seen whether he can do it consistently over a full league season.
I have the suspiscion that he will turn out to be a limited player who simply had a decent couple of games in South Africa.
£13 Million.....???For Asamoah Gyan....???

Though I'm a Boro fan, I have come to loathe Newcastle so all-consumingly that I no longer have any real ill-will left for Sunderland. So I just hope this guy, who looked pretty decent in the World cup, doesn't turn into your Alves. Have a good season, and please stuff the Mags - twice.