Tottenham Hotspur defender Younes Kaboul joins Sunderland on four-year deal

Tottenham have confirmed the sale of experienced defender Younes Kaboul to Premier League rivals Sunderland in a statement released via the club's official website on Thursday evening (16 July).

The Black Cats also announced the deal, revealing that the 29-year-old centre-back has moved to the Stadium of Light on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee that The Mail believes to be approximately £3m ($4.6m, €4.3m ).

Having initially represented Tottenham between 2007-08, Kaboul returned to White Hart Lane from Portsmouth two years later and went on to make 140 total appearances for the club.

The former France international was a member of Juande Ramos' squad that beat Chelsea to claim the League Cup at Wembley in 2008 and was also handed the captain's armband by Mauricio Pochettino last September following the departure of Michael Dawson to Hull City.

Despite that honour, however, Kaboul made just 11 Premier League starts last term and did not feature at all for Tottenham following the 2-1 FA Cup fourth-round defeat to Leicester City on 24 January.

"It is an honour and I'm delighted to join Sunderland," Kaboul told safc.com. "Everything went quickly but I'm very happy to be here and it is a good opportunity for me, so I can't wait to meet up with my new teammates and for the first day against Leicester City.

"I will give the maximum every time I play and have no regrets by giving everything in each game, of course a season is very long and you will have ups and downs but the most important thing is to stick together with the fans and the team."

Kaboul has played against Sunderland on numerous occasions during his seven-year top-flight career to date and spoke of his admiration and excitement at the atmosphere generated by supporters.

He added: "I can't wait [to play at the Stadium of Light] and every time we played here we were preparing from Monday because we knew what we were going to get. The atmosphere is unbelievable and when Sunderland score the entire stadium goes crazy which is a joy. Joining Sunderland today is perfect."

Kaboul is the fourth player to be sold by Tottenham in recent weeks. At the end of last month, underwhelming Brazilian midfielder Paulinho was offloaded to Guangzhou Evergrande and that departure was quickly followed by the sales of Lewis Holtby and Etienne Capoue to Hamburg and Watford respectively. Grant Ward has since joined Championship side Rotherham United on a six-month loan.

For Sunderland, Kaboul's arrival is the second incoming deal to be completed in a matter of days. Dutch winger Jeremain Lens was signed from Dynamo Kiev on 15 July, while Dick Advocaat has also sanctioned deals to bring in Adam Matthews from Celtic and former Liverpool defender Sebastian Coates.

Argentine duo Ricardo Alvarez and Santiago Vergini both joined permanently this summer by virtue of clauses in their loan agreements, although the latter has since departed for Getafe in La Liga.

On Kaboul, Advocaat said: ""He is a very experienced player, which is what we need. He has shown that in his time at Spurs and he will be a very good addition to our squad."