Johnny - no longer marching on at United
ESPN notes: Sunderland have completed the signing of John O’Shea from Manchester United on a four-year deal.
O’Shea, 30, made his United debut in 1999 and has helped the club to five Premier League trophies as well as the FA Cup, Champions League and three League Cups, but he is ready for a new challenge at the Stadium of Light.
“Once I’d heard reports about the club and the people here, the ambitions and what the manager was all about, it was the only place I was going to come to,” O’Shea said.
O’Shea may have had his critics in the past but with almost 400 appearances for United he’s certainly played his part none more so than THAT last minute winner in front of the Kop in 2007.
The loss of O’Shea, Brown, Owen Hargreaves, Edwin Van Der Sar, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes means Sir Alex Ferguson has seen a huge part of his old guard leave Old Trafford this Summer. Let’s just hope their loss isn’t felt too much by the current squad.
Fergie must really be upset with O’Shea, even at the end of last season he was still a useful utility player.
Now that O’Shea and Brown have left, there is only one established first teamer who was left out of the Champions League final squad remaining; it will be interesting to see whether Dimitar Berbatov sticks around for next season.