Jack Ross has shared his delight over his first signing Alim Ozturk.
The Dutch-born central defender joins the club on July 1 on a two-year deal are spells in Turkey and Scotland.
Ozturk, 25, moves to Wearside for his first taste of English football, and Ross is confident the towering defender can settle into his new surroundings well after previously working with him at Hearts.
Speaking to safc.com, the Black Cats boss was left beaming over his first addition of the summer.
“He is someone who I know – I worked with him a few years ago at Hearts,” he said.
“He is a player who is yet to reach his full potential, but this opportunity here gives him the chance to do that.
“He is a really good player and he will be able to cope with the physical demands of this league.
“He is really comfortable on the ball and I think the supporters will see that. He is excited by the opportunity to come here and he wants to do well so that fits perfectly into what we are trying to do here moving forward.
“The age range is important – he came over to the UK from Holland in his early 20s, he is still only 25 so that still gives us the best years of his career ahead of him.
“He has still got a point to prove and in terms of how well he did in Scotland he probably thought that might open up a path to come to England, but he chose to go back to Turkey.
“There is a hunger about him,” he continued. “He is buzzing off the facilities and that is what we want. We want players to realise the scale of this opportunity.
“We are delighted to have him onboard. For him, it is a new challenge. He is an intelligent young man and has some success in his career already. He has coped with the demands in his career already and I’m sure he will do the same again.”