Stoke City have captured Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones on a four year deal, for a club record fee of £8m. Jones is the latest Black Cats player to be brought to the Britannia Stadium by Tony Pulis, following the likes of Dean Whitehead, Liam Lawrence, Danny Collins, Danny Higginbotham and Rory Delap.
"Kenwyne is unplayable on his day which is why this is a fantastic signing for this club," said Pulis, the Stoke boss. "We need goals in our team and we also need strong competition among our strikers if we are to continue improving at this level.
"Kenwyne will give us that. It's no secret that I am one of his biggest admirers, he did a smashing job for us when he was here on loan. He was very young back then, but I believe that he has the best years ahead of him as a top striker."
Jones said: "The fact that I know the manager, some of the players and the place so well has obviously been an influence upon me coming here."
"This is an exciting new chapter in my career and I want to do my best for a club that has clearly had great success since I was last here. I am looking forward to the challenge of helping Stoke build upon the progress it has made over the past two years in the Premier League."
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce indicated that he had given up on the 25-year-old ever fulfilling his promise in a Sunderland shirt.
"Towards the end with Kenwyne, things were not working out," Bruce said. "So I have accepted Stoke's offer. The deal is not over the line but I think it will be in the interests of all parties. There has always been a frustration with me and, I think, with supporters, who have watched Kenwyne that you see an abundance of talent but it has not come out often enough."
