Sunderland have signed Marseille captain Lorik Cana on a four-year contract in a deal worth more than €5.8million. The Albania midfielder becomes Black Cats boss Steve Bruce’s third signing of the summer following the arrivals of Paraguay skipper Paulo Da Silva and England Under-21 striker Fraizer Campbell.
Bruce said: “I’m delighted to have brought Lorik to the club, especially given the number of clubs who had expressed an interest in signing him.”
Cana, who turns 26 on Monday, has 31 caps for Albania and helped Marseille to a second-placed finish behind Bordeaux in Ligue 1 last season.
Bruce added: “He brings with him a tremendous amount of experience both at club level and internationally and is a great addition to our squad.
“To captain a side of Marseille’s stature says a lot about the player and his character, and I’m sure he’ll go on to be a fantastic signing for Sunderland.”
Earlier in the day, Bruce sold midfielder Dean Whitehead to Stoke City for an initial fee of €3.5m which could rise to €5.8m.
Whitehead said: “I’m delighted to be here. I’ve known of the club’s interest for about six months or so now so it has gone on for a while. But like I say everything is sorted now and I’m very happy it’s all done and dusted.
“The manager (Tony Pulis) has been brilliant, I have spoken to him a few times. He has great plans for this place and as soon as I heard what he said I wanted to be part of it.
“Last year was a fantastic season for everyone here and hopefully I can help push the club on even more.”
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)