Sunderland's stand-in captain Titus Bramble is backing Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan to fill Darren Bent’s boots and become the Black Cats’ top goal-getter.
With Bent having completed a shock £24m move to Aston Villa this week, the Black Cats will now look to their £13m record buy Gyan to shoulder the bulk of the goalscoring burden.
And Bramble is convinced Ghana’s World Cup star – who has seven goals to his name already – will step up to the plate.
“It’s disappointing to lose Darren, but that’s football,†said Bramble, who has skippered the side for the last three league games while Lee Cattermole has been sidelined through injury.
“We’re sixth in the table, things are going well and we don’t intend to let anything knock us out of our stride.
“It’s a big loss, but we’ve got other people who can score goals.
“Asa is a world-class player who has played and scored goals at the highest level.
“I’m sure he will be able to deal with the extra responsibility.
“We spent a lot of money on him in the summer. I had seen him play in the World Cup, but I didn’t really know what to expect when he arrived.
“Since he has come here, though, he has been like a breath of fresh air.
“He’s always got a smile on his face, he is a great guy to have around the training ground and he scores goals.
“And he’s going to score a lot more goals as time goes on and he adapts to the Premier League.â€
Sunderland are working hard to bring in at least one striker in time for this weekend’s trip to Blackpool, with Aston Villa’s Norway international John Carew their main target.
But, with Fraizer Campbell and on-loan Manchester United man Danny Welbeck both sidelined until March, Gyan is Sunderland’s only fit frontman as things stand.
Source: ChronicleLive