It's what we've been missing

Gardner scores for England U21s

This morning I staggered downstairs to the news that 'Gardner should sign today'... I thought my dad meant Ricardo or some other Gardner quite underwhelming. But no, it's Craig Gardner of Birmingham City who had a very impressive season last season, scoring 11 goals from midfield. I think he'd be a brilliant signing and would slot nicely into the centre of our midfield. I was also surprised to hear that the alleged price is only around the £5m mark, which isn't a lot at all for a good player nowadays. Goals from midfield are something which Sunderland have lacked for a lot of years, in fact, I can't remember having a decent goalscoring midfielder since we were promoted in 2007. I'm hoping that Gardner will provide this, and hopefully take some of the weight off the shoulders of Gyan and whoever his strike partner may be next season, a luxury that Darren Bent didn't have. Although I'm not going to start on him. In summary, I think £5m for a goalscoring midfielder that is still only 24 years of age, particularly one with three years of Premier League experience is a brilliant piece of business for the club. I have to admit, I didn't see this one coming and all of a sudden our transfers look to be progressing nicely, with 4 new players through the door, assuming that the Gardner and Dong Won deals go through.