TRANSFER LATEST: Ambitious Bristol City complete the signing of Sunderland target Mohamed Eisa

After Sunderland dropped out of the race to sign Mohamed Eisa last week it cleared the way for Bristol City to press ahead with their interest in the striker, and it has now been confirmed that the forward has signed a three-year deal with the ambitious Championship club.

Eisa - who won Cheltenham Town’s Player of the Year award last season - has joined up with Lee Johnson’s side for an undisclosed sum of money, thought to be in excess of £2.25m.

Whilst Sunderland - and other League One clubs, including Portsmouth and Peterborough United - had worked hard in order to try and meet Cheltenham’s valuation for the player, ultimately their stance kept changing and it put many of his suitors off pursuing Eisa.

What has occurred, then, is a father-son transaction as father Gary sanctioned the sale of his prized asset to his son Lee, with Eisa only having to move thirty miles across to Bristol where he will be playing in the second tier of English football next season.

Bristol City chief executive Mark Ashton spoke to BCFC.co.uk about his excitement in managing to get the deal over the line, noting that he’s an exciting talent who still has plenty of room to develop.

He said:

We are thrilled to have signed Mo. He was in superb form in the last campaign and we hope he can make another step up in the football ladder.

He is tall, athletic, a proven finisher and we believe he can become even better with the help of our coaching infrastructure.

Our recruitment team will now press ahead with alternative targets, and are keen to have a host of new players through the door by the time we play Middlesbrough on Friday evening.

Whilst Charlie Wyke is injured and will at least miss the majority of August with a knee injury, it won’t deter Sunderland from attempting to sign the Bradford City forward.

Another striker - a Championship forward that we have been continually linked with throughout the summer - remains close to the top of Sunderland’s wish-list and they’re hopeful of bringing him in, provided all the stars align and a fee can be agreed in order to bring him in to the club.