Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan, one of the stars of this summer's World Cup, has joined Sunderland from French side Rennes.

The 24-year-old moves to the Black Cats for a club record transfer fee of more than £13million, beating the previous highest amount paid to Tottenham last summer for Darren Bent.

Gyan has signed a four-year contract after impressing for the Black Stars in South Africa, scoring three goals as Ghana reached the World Cup quarter-finals.

He started his career at Liberty Professionals in his homeland before joining Udinese seven years ago. Gyan scored 11 goals in 39 appearances for the club and also enjoyed a successful loan spell at Modena.

He moved to Rennes in July 2008 and went on to score 14 goals in 48 appearances for the French side, before featuring in all five of his country's games at the World Cup against Serbia, Australia, Germany, the USA and Uruguay.

Bruce has been after a new striker since allowing Kenwyne Jones to join Stoke City earlier in the summer. The move was further catalysed by the injury to on loan striker Fraizer Campbell over the weekend.