Sunderland complete M’Vila loan deal

Somewhat out of the blue, Sunderland have completed the signing of France global midfielder Yann M’Vila on a season-long deal from Russian side Rubin Kazan.

He is the fifth new signing since the north-east side narrowly avoided relegation last season under temporary manager Dick Advocaat, who then changed his mind and chose to stay on.

M’Vila has 22 caps for France, having made his worldwide debut in 2010, but in November 2012, he was banned from national team matches until June 2014 after an unauthorised night out while on U21 duty.

I’m very happy to be a Sunderland player.

M’Vila’s senior career started at Ligue 1 side Rennes and after breaking into the first team there he went on to join Rubin Kazan in 2013, despite reported interest from Liverpool – the midfielder was pictured at Goodison Park during the 3-3 draw between the Merseyside outfits that year.

“I’m very happy to be a Sunderland player”, said M’Vila speaking on the Premier League club’s official webside. I like to play box-to-box but I can also sit in front of the back four and protect the defence.

But Sunderland are set to land M’Vila and add him to their list of summer signings Jeremain Lens, Younes Kaboul, Ricky Alvarez, Adam Matthews and Sebastian Coates.

He is in contention to face Leicester on Saturday and comes just 24 hours after it emerged a loan agreement for Leroy Fer had collapsed because of a medical.