Asamoah Gyan has moved to UAE side Al-Ain on loan from Sunderland
In a bizarre move, Sunderland have loaned out Ghanaian international striker Asamoah Gyan to Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates. Gyan was purchased by Sunderland for £13 million from Rennes in Ligue 1 last season, and he was impressive when he played, scoring 10 league goals in 21 starts and 10 substitute appearances. Al-Ain confirmed the deal on their website.
Why Sunderland would be willing to loan out Gyan or why the player would be willing to take a loan to the United Arab Emirates is hard to figure out. Sunderland had been reportedly trying to offload Gyan in the European transfer window, but were unsuccessful. Gyan claimed multiple times that he had not asked to leave the club and that he was happy playing for Sunderland, despite rumors that he asked to leave the club.
Sunderland have brought in Nicklas Bendtner on loan from Arsenal, so their depth shouldn't be significantly damaged by Gyan's departure. However, there's little doubt that Gyan is the most accomplished striker in the team, and it seems absolutely ludicrous that the team would be willing to loan him out in September, bad attitude or not.
For more on the Gyan story, as well as all kinds of news and analysis on Sunderland AFC, check out Roker Report.
Asamoah Gyan Has Not Been "Himself" According To Steve Bruce
Speaking before Sunderland's match with Chelsea about the shock loan move of Asamoah Gyan to the United Arab Emirates side Al-Ain, manager Steve Bruce said the following:
It seems a weak argument. Plenty of Premier League strikers haven't been themselves recently: Fernando Torres, Carlos Tevez, Jermain Defoe and Bobby Zamorra come to mind. None of them, however, have been loaned out to a Championship side, let alone a side in the UAE (though maybe that'd be best for Torres). Up until yesterday, Steve Bruce had been denying that Asamoah Gyan wanted to leave, but this move smells of Gyan wanting to leave because of the money that he's likely to get at Al-Ain.
While Bruce has given Gyan the chance to return to Sunderland, it seems very unlikely that he will. Nicklas Bendtner should be able to fill the goalscoring and spectacular misses void that Sunderland have at the moment, starting today against Chelsea.
For more on Gyan's move and everything about Sunderland, follow SB Nation's Sunderland Blog, The Roker Report.
Sep 10 9:27a by Aidan Gibson - 0 comments