New Sunderland recruit Lewis Grabban has revealed that he did not have to be persuaded to join the Black Cats.
Grabban said of the move to his new club, “It’s been stop-start [at Bournemouth]. It’s not really been what I expected when I first went back to Bournemouth. It’s come to the point where I need to kick-on again and get back to where I was a few seasons ago – scoring goals and playing games consistently.
“I didn’t get to speak to Jermain because I have mainly been training with the U23s at Bournemouth. To be honest, I didn’t really need to. When Sunderland came in, I wanted to come – I didn’t really need convincing by anyone.
“When I spoke to Simon Grayson, he said that for someone from the South to want to come up all this way shows a lot. Being here isn’t an issue for me, I want to be part of it. I was born and raised in the South but it wasn’t really a big factor for me.
“I thought that coming up here would be good for me, because I can focus solely on football without any distractions.”
The 29-year-old Grabban struggled to earn regular game time last season during his second stint with Bournemouth and this move will allow him to regain confidence and start playing regularly again.
The Black Cats were in desperate need of new experienced strikers this summer after the trio of Fabio Borini, Victor Anichebe and Jermain Defoe opted to leave following the clubs relegation.
Former Everton forward James Vaughn was brought in from Bury and along with Grabban will be required to score goals for Simon Grayson’s side next season.
