Seb Larsson to Sunderland

Photo courtesy USA.Arsenal.com

Sunderland begin rebuilding their midfield.

Swede Larsson leaves Birmingham for Sunderland - Yahoo! Eurosport

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has agreed to sign Swedish international Sebastian Larsson from his old club Birmingham City.

I think this is a good signing. Larsson has always produced when given extended runs in the team and he seems like the type of player that would respond well to Bruce's more player-friendly management style.

My concern would be that he's not a good fit for the current Sunderland side. It's hard to imagine him and Kieran Richardson playing inside-out wingers around Asamoah Gyan. Larsson just doesn't strike me as the type of player who will cut inside and run at players. He won't be replacing Welbeck, and he's a different player from the returning Campbell. He'll stick to his flank and send in beautiful crosses. That's what he does. But for that to be effective he needs someone on the end of those balls. It's no surprise that his best spell with Birmingham came in the Championship with Nicklas Bendtner also shining.

So I would expect the other shoe to drop and Sunderland to be buying the target forward they've been missing since they sold Kenwyne Jones and then Darren Bent. And, because nothing is more fun, let me start the rumour right now -- Sunderland will follow this purchase by buying Nicklas Bendtner from Arsenal.

Why not?