Malbranque joins St Etienne

Malbranque joins St Etienne - Yahoo! Eurosport

St Etienne have confirmed the signing of Steed Malbranque from Sunderland.

The Ligue 1 outfit have agreed a two-year deal for the 31-year-old midfielder, who returns to his native France for an undisclosed fee.

A statement on www.asse.fr read: 'It's official. Steed Malbranque is a St Etienne player. The midfielder is committed to ASSE for two seasons.'

We don't usually comments on transfers OUT of the Premier League, but this deserves special mention. Malbranque was a fantasy stud back in his Fulham days, and an early member of the "French winger" club that we love so much. Other founding members include Robert Pires and Fabrice Fernandes, but Steed outlasted them all. It was clear that he wasn't at his best with Sunderland. I believe he has the distinction of being the player who had the most shots on goal last season without actually scoring.  Best wishes to him back in Ligue 1, or should we say, "bon chance" and "mercis pour l'expérience".

Season Preview: Sunderland

Overall Outlook - In contrast to Stoke who doesn't spend a lot of money but gets a lot from everything they do spend and every player on the roster, Sunderland seem to be forever spending a lot of money on players who have bigger names than games. For every Darren Bent who does well after a big money move there are two Gordon/ Richardson/ Campbell/ Bardsley/ Ferdinand-type players who have come in with big reputations from bigger clubs and shown why those big clubs were willing to sell.  The squad is currently a little bit light on strikers with the real possibility that they will become lighter-still with Kenwyne Jones set to leave for Stoke with no obvious replacement coming in.