Sunderland sign Lee Cattermole for £6 million

Sunderland sign Lee Cattermole for £6 million

Lee Cattermole, the Wigan Athletic midfielder, has joined Sunderland for a fee of £6 million.

Sunderland have agreed a four-year deal with the England Under-21 player, who will link up with Steve Bruce, the former Wigan manager, at the Stadium of Light.

Cattermole will go straight into the squad for Sunderland's Premier League opener against Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.

The former Middlesbrough youth team player, signed by Bruce for Wigan in a £3.5m deal in July 2008, is Sunderland's fifth signing of the summer after Darren Bent, Lorik Cana, Fraizer Campbell and Paulo Da Silva.

Cattermole made 69 first-team appearances for Middlesbrough and featured in 33 Premier League games in his one season at Wigan.

Roberto Martinez, the Wigan manager, admitted his disappointment at losing the services of Cattermole. "The fee is a good one," he said. "It is far more than the club paid for him last year and the third highest in Wigan history.

"The initial offer from Sunderland was unacceptable, but they have now matched our valuation. The speculation about Lee has refused to go away over the last few weeks and this has been very unsettling for him and for our players.

"It became clear over the past days having spoken to Lee that he wanted to leave and it is very disruptive to the group when a player is unhappy. My No 1 priority has to be the good of the club, I therefore agreed to the move for the good of the players who want to remain and help us progress to the next level."