Gyan Leaves Sunderland on Loan

What, me worry?

I'm not sure how this works outside of the transfer window, but Asamoah Gyan has left Sunderland. From Sunderland's official website:

Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan is set to join United Arab Emirates side Al-Ain on loan.

Officials from Al-Ain made contact with Sunderland earlier in the week with a view to signing the player on a permanent deal. After further discussions overnight however, it was agreed that the striker would join the club on a season-long loan.

Sunderland AFC would like to thank the officials from Al-Ain for the professional manner in which they entered into negotiations and the club wishes all parties well.

Manager Steve Bruce said: "Anyone who has seen Asamoah play will know that he hasn't been himself in recent months. This option suits all parties at the present time and the club is well-protected in the deal.

"Asamoah has three years remaining on his contract and of course my wish would be that he finds his spark again and we see him in red and white stripes next season in the form that first attracted us to him."

Gyan never settled at Sunderland, although he certainly had some highlights. This leaves Nicklas Bendtner as their only "experienced" Premier League striker, with Connor Wickham and the Bishop, Ji Dong-Won the other forwards. After today's match against Chelsea, Sunderland host Stoke, travel to Norwich and host West Brom. Bendtner under 6 could be a useful option and his schedule compares favorably against Adebayor's, who is similarly priced.

Season Preview - Sunderland

Quick Reminder, Real Life

What started brightly with a forward line of DBent, Gyan, and Campbell came closer to the relegation zone than anyone who watched the first half of the season or looked at the final standings would ever have guessed. February, March, and the first half of April were an unmitigated disaster with the club earning exactly 1 point between Feb 1 and April 16. If you’re looking for causes, the sale of talisman Darren Bent to Villa combined with an injury to Campbell and a lack of many additional attacking options were a big root cause. A solid run from mid-April through the end of the season that saw them win three of their five matches saved their bacon and even got them a nice-looking 10th place finish despite their miserable run.

Quick Reminder, Fantasy

Darren Bent was Darren Bent when he was there (leading one to wonder why they agreed to sell him to a non-"big" team or why DBent wanted to go). Gyan was OK but nothing great. Bardsley had a nice fantasy season that ended with some big matches in the second half despite Sunderland’s generally miserable play in the real world. Otherwise, it was a bit of a fantasy wasteland at the Stadium of Light, highlighted by Sessegnon's never making it into the sytsem! Just to give you an idea of how bad, most of Sunderland’s first page of options in Yahoo are players new to the team. Jordan Henderson had a solid fantasy season but certainly not one that helps explain the price Liverpool were willing to pay for him.

Summer Changes

Sunderland Analysis - Lots of Transfer Activity

I've already gone on record in thinking that NUFC are among the mid-table clubs that have done very well for themselves thus far.  They've gone from highly volatile and a bit long in the tooth to more solid if perhaps a little less potentially spectacular.  West Brom has quietly solidified themselves in the back with some solid acquisitions as well.  That brings us to Sunderland who have stepped up the pace dramatically in the last ten days with three (relatively) high profile signings in Connor Wickham, Seb Larsson, and Craig Gardner to go along with depth in Keiran Westwood and my new favorite Premier League player "Bishop Magic" Dong-won.

So, how to the new signings look? First of all, I really like the Wickham move.  Here's my logic:

Premier League Injuries and Suspensions

Berbatov battles Tevez, again.

Premier League team news - ESPN Soccernet

Of course it may all be irrelevant due to the inconvenient timing of "the Rapture" but if we manage to avoid the end of days on Saturday, we will indeed have a final day of the season on Sunday.

Honestly, as I looked at the content behind the link above, I don't think I saw anything that moved me to make a change.  Surely, you have already seen SAF's plans for his starting line-up (Berbs and EvdS being "in" are the big headlines).  The only other item of note is that Kevin Doyle sounds pretty doubtful for Wolves which should solidify the value of Ward as an inexpensive midfielder playing as a withdrawn striker.

The final note is that our makeshift Sunderland forwards all take a step down in value as Gyan has returned to training and at least has a chance to feature on the final day of the season (although why Steve Bruce would put him out there is a mystery to me - let him start his summer early and ensure that he's healthy going into next season after a long year between club and World Cup commitments).

With that said, we conclude the final Injuries and Suspensions post of the 2010-11 season.  It has, as always, been a blast doing this.  We thank everyone who reads and comments - even the ones (maybe even especially the ones) who disagree with us.  The fact that it is generally done respectfully and in the interest of improving the dialog makes this something we are very proud to write and moderate. 

Join in Sunday for the final live chat of the season and we'll look forward to seeing you all over the summer as transfers happen and we start getting ready for next season.

Cheers - Neal

In Related News

Sky Sports | Football | Premier League | News | Sunderland send Welbeck for op

Skysports.com understands that Danny Welbeck is set to have an exploratory operation on his troublesome knee injury on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury which kept him out of Sunday's Wear-Tyne derby.

However, he has been troubled by a knee complaint for some time and the club have decided to act now to get to the root of the problem.

So for the immediate future, we're likely to see Gyan as a lone striker. But that opens a midfield spot for someone. Steed Malbranque has already claimed a spot and Zenden seems to be in Bruce's good graces.

But might we see a return of Big Fat (and blog favorite) Andy Reid? He has been recalled from loan at Sheffield United, played in the FA Cup loss to Notts County and was on the bench at the weekend. Surely a midfield five of Reid, Richardson, Henderson, Cattermole, and Malbranque (with Zenden the first player off the bench) offers plenty of options for Sunderland.

If Reid does return, and with David Bentley starting again at Birmingham, our midfields might have a distinctly retro vibe to them soon.

UPDATE: Wellbeck out for Six to Eight Weeks

[Steve] Bruce said: "Danny was operated on yesterday and it was confirmed he had a torn cartilage and he will be [out for] six to eight weeks."

Midweek Review - Day One

Day One in the books, and I'm as happy as Sylvie in the photo above. 46 points from Begovic, Van Der Vaart and Gyan. Day Two looks to me much more interesting, with the Manchester derby very much at the forefront - including the Nani's possible early return from injury.

But first a brief look back at yesterday.

In Praise of the Friday Trade that Never Happened

Jeremy Spitzberg: drogba/gyan?
Jeremy Spitzberg: how about dbent/berba king?

That would have been a 30-point mistake and I would still be in a horrible mood this morning.

Bent Injury Blow

Still a favorite Darren Bent moment. Besides, it's not a real post these days if we don't allude to Liverpool.

Sunderland - Bent Injury Blow

SAFC striker Darren Bent has had to pull out from the England squad due to an injury sustained in training...

Sunderland fans will be hoping the injury, described as a 'groin injury' will be minor and he will recover in time to face Blackburn a week today and especially the Tyne-Wear Derby on 31st October.

If not, Gyan at 6.39 becomes an intriguing choice.

Asamoah Gyan Doubtful For Liverpool Clash

Back to the drawing board.

Asamoah Gyan Doubtful For Liverpool Clash | Football/Soccer | Peacefmonline.com

Asamoah Gyan is a doubt for their English Premier League trip to Liverpool this Saturday.

Gyan scored on Tuesday night in the Black Cats 1-2 home defeat to West Ham to crash out of the Carling Cup but limped out on the hour mark...

“The most upsetting thing of the evening is that we have two or three players with soft tissue injuries and they’re struggling for Saturday,” Sunderland manager Bruce said.

“Kieran’s done his hamstring and we’ll see how bad it is. Ferdinand has a hamstring too. Gyan got a knock to his ribs and has hurt his hamstring. It’s very disappointing.”

It will be interesting to see if Bruce rushes Andy Reid back to the starting line-up after his cameo at the end of the Arsenal match. Also, does this derail McCartney's loan to Leeds? Or do we see Angeleri in the Premier League for the first time?

Premier League Transfer Talk

Hold it now... Hit it!

Premier League Transfer Talk – Club-by-club – Football Transfers – Football Rumours - Telegraph

A lot of interesting names here. Of course there is a lot of intra-Premier League dealings being discussed. But what interests fantasy managers more would be players coming in from other Leagues as they come into the game at a discount.

So, who might that include?

Per Mertesacker to Arsenal -- Sorry, but doesn't he suck? Everyone is always going on about how central defence is Germany's achilles heel. We'll see how they fare against Argentina, but I can't see Arsene spending double-digit millions for him.

Rafael Van der Vaart to Liverpool -- With a new manager, Liverpool are going to be linked to a lot of players. Especially those like Hangeland and Murphy who have played for Hodgson. But Van der Vaart would be a great fantasy signing alongside the still-coming-to-Liverpool Milan Jovanovic.

Fabio Coentrao to Manchester City -- Of course. Citeh are linked to just about every player at this point. But Coentrao has made his name with a great World Cup with Portugal. He's a real attacking threat out of the back and would be a +10 fantasy signing.

Utaka to Sunderland -- Depends on where he is in the pecking order, which will likely depend on other's health. But he was a very cheap option at the end of last season so if he's starting he could be a good value pick.

Asamoah Gyan to Spurs -- Just what Spurs need, more players. But were he to be signed, and were he to win a starting place over Defoe he could be +10.