Back to action on Sunday – see our Manchester City preview by clicking here – but here’s a bit of light relief, including an amateur clip of the Gyan goal vs England, while we wait …
Best of all in Asamoah Gyan’s eulogy to the new top – and no, that’s not him wearing it – is the reference to next season, ie there being a next season (with us).
Darren Bent has taught us not to read too much into what players say about their love for the club, their happiness at feeling so appreciated by fans, their contentment in the area they’ve moved to …
But Asamoah seems a genuine kind of man; he made no secret of how a chance to play for Manchester United, his boyhood heroes, would seem like a dream coming true. Most Sunderland supporters could probably live with that kind of ambition.
The equaliser at Wembley showed us what a class act he can be, as did the control and finish in both Spurs games this season, that first goal of his season, at Wigan, and other examples Salut! Sunderland readers could nominate.
Yes, the £13 million fee was excessive. When the Rennes coach Frédéric Antonetti said the other day that the club realised they’d never again get an offer like it, he should have added that they cynically milked us as best they could in the knowledge that Fraizer Campbell had just been badly injured. But that is hardly Asamoah’s fault.
Oh, and the fashion statement?
Asamoah has tried on the 2011-2012 home top, as shown above courtesy of Tombola, and approves:
“I really like it. It looks fantastic and it felt great to pull the new shirt on for the first time and to see how we’ll look when we play next season.
It means a lot for me to wear the Sunderland shirt and I know the fans think so too so I won’t be surprised to see everyone in the street wearing it when they can in the summer.”
Maybe he can now let us know whether his former Rennes teammate M’vila Yann, who won his eighth French cap in the 0-0 draw against Croatia earlier this week, is as complimentary about the Breton sailor top France introduced for that game and – despite a mixed reception among supporters – will wear in future for away matches …
Monsieur Salut