Hammer's sign George...

Sunderland left back George McCartney has this morning completed a move to West Ham.

An official announcement has not yet been made by the club, but the Northern Irish international, who refuses to play for his country under Lawrie Sanchez, has signed a 4-year deal with the East London club.

It is expected that the club will announce the deal once the transfer of West Ham left back Clive Clarke finalises his move in the opposite direction. The move is seemingly a like-for-like swap, but it is not yet clear who has made the better deal. While Sunderland will recieve cash-plus-Clarke, the former Stoke full back did not play regularly last season, while McCartney is a proven international full back.

However, McCartney has also not played much recently due to a series of injuries, even now he will be out of action for another 10 weeks due to a knee ligament injury. However West Ham seem satisfied that he will recover as he passed a medical yesterday.

McCartney made 157 appearances for Sunderland and was captain during the lads' semi final play-off heartache season.

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