Steve Bruce has completed the signing of Craig Gardner from Birmingham City.
The Solihull-born 24-year-old joins Sunderland on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee, becoming the Black Cats' third signing in just over 24 hours following the acquisitions of Connor Wickham and Ji Dong-Won.
Gardner enjoyed a career season in 2010-11 but couldn't prevent Birmingham from slipping into the Npower Championship.
He picked up a Carling Cup winners' medal and scored 10 goals in 37 appearances in all competitions during the campaign just ended, including a spectacular long-range strike against the Black Cats at St Andrew's in April.
Eight of those goals came in the Barclays Premier League, ranking the attack-minded player in the league's top ten midfielders in terms of goals scored.
Gardner - Birmingham's leading marksman last season - began his career with Aston Villa, making his senior debut on Boxing Day 2005 in a 4-0 win over Everton.
The former England under-21 international made 80 appearances for Villa overall, scoring six goals, and also tasted European football during his spell at Villa Park.
Birmingham paid their Midlands rivals £3m to acquire Gardner in January 2010 and he quickly became a favourite amongst City fans.
He made 52 appearances for the club during one and a half seasons, figuring in the 2-1 win over Arsenal in the Carling Cup Final back in February.
However, City's bid to escape relegation from the Barclays Premier League in 2010-11 was ultimately unsuccessful, despite Gardner scoring a long-range goal at Tottenham Hotspur on the final day of the season.
Plus d'infos sur ce joueur
http://www.soccers.fr/index.php?showtopic=156853
Gardner s'engage avec Sunderland suite a la descente de son club de coeur et malgré ses 10 buts toutes compétitions confondues ; il a privilégié le choix de carrière plutot que l'affectif.
Birmningham est contraint de dégraisser ses salaires de plus de 1M dont lui, Johnson, Ridgewell, Ferguson, Bowyer...
C'est la 3e recrue de Steve Bruce après Wickham et Ji Dong Won, il s'engage pour 3 ans.
http://www.safc.com/news/20110630/gardner-...2256213_2384524
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_7011381,00.html
