Sunderland No2 Eric Black has revealed they've been following Stephane Sessegnon for some years.
Sunderland paid £6m to acquire the fleet-footed winger from Paris Saint-Germain in the January transfer window as manager Steve Bruce cashed in on his - and his backroom staff's - in-depth knowledge of French football.
"We've known of Stephane for about five or six years since he really came on to the scene at Le Mans," Black revealed to safc.com.
"He was exceptional there which led to Paris taking him. We've watched him and we knew all about him.
"Stephane is explosive and was PSG's best player by some distance last year. He's got great ability and is certainly one of the fastest players at the club, without question.
"He's a deep, quiet boy who gets on with it and I think he's shown in his first few games that he'll bring something to the team.
"He's got bits and pieces of English and his wife and kids and coming over in the next couple of weeks which should help him settle further."
