Sunderland will receive a world record loan fee for Asamoah Gyan’s season-long stint at United Arab Emirates club Al-Ain.
The Black Cats have agreed a fee approaching £6million for the Ghana striker’s services.
Gyan will also receive £126,000 per week which will make him the highest paid Ghanaian footballer.
This will massively improve his personal bank balance as he was shockingly among the least paid footballers in the English Premier League despite his status in world football, friends of the player have told GHANAsoccernet.com.
He will join the likes of Samuel Eto'o, Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Emmanuel Adebayor as Africa's best paid footballers.
Manager Steve Bruce claims he was baffled by Gyan’s desire to leave the club he joined only a year ago but they reached the deal to release the player for the world record loan deal.
The money negotiated with Al-Ain means that Sunderland have turned what could have been a season-long problem into a huge short-term profit.
Gyan will be on loan in the Gulf for the rest of the season but he remains a Sunderland employee unless the loan is made permanent.
Sunderland paid £11.2m to Rennes for the 25-year-old in August of last year and would be expected to recoup more than that should a permanent transfer to Al-Ain go through.
Gyan, who is involved in the Africa Cup of Nations in January, could yet play for Sunderland again.