Done deal: Sunderland promotion rivals complete signing of ex-Newcastle United and Liverpool player

Sunderland’s Championship promotion rivals Burnley have completed the signing of experienced midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, it has been confirmed.

The Black Cats played out a frustrating 0-0 draw with the Clarets at Turf Moor on Friday evening, missing two late penalties that would have handed them a valuable three points and allowed them to leapfrog Scott Parker’s side in the table. And now, in the aftermath of that contest, Burnley have sought to strengthen their ranks by wrapping up a deal for former Newcastle United and England midfielder Shelvey. The 32-year-old has been without a club since leaving Turkish outfit Eyupspor, and has been training with Parker’s squad ahead of a prospective agreement.

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Speaking to the Clarets’ in-house media team, he said: “It feels amazing to get it done. It’s been quite a long process, but it’s all done now and I’m excited for it. I like the club as a whole, every time I have played against Burnley at Turf Moor it’s been tough, but I’m part of this team now and my aim is to do my best to help this club get back into the Premier League, where it belongs.”

Shelvey has made over 450 career appearances since making his debut for Charlton Athletic at the age of 16. The midfielder enjoyed subsequent spells with Liverpool, Swansea City, Newcastle, and Nottingham Forest before moving to Turkey, where he played for Caykur Rizespor and Eyupspor. He becomes Burnley’s third January signing after the arrivals of striker Ashley Barnes and full-back Oliver Sonne.

Speaking about the prospect of signing Shelvey during a press conference last week, Burnley boss Parker said: “He [Shelvey] is training at the moment, yeah. So he's been with us now for a couple of days now, three or four days training with us. We decided to bring Jonjo in, understand his quality. So yeah, just wanted to have a closer look on Jonjo. We've not made a decision yet and we'll have them conversations in the coming days with Jonjo on how I see things and where he sits with it as well, really.”

He added: “Like I said, it's been such a short space of time that Jonjo's been in here. He's been first class since he's come in, applied himself in the right way. But it's still too early to say.”

When asked about his broader recruitment plans, Parker continued: “[Plans are] Progressing, but as always, the January transfer window is very, very difficult. We want to try and be active if we can. There's obviously different factors into that, how you can be and whether you can be [active], for many, many reasons.

“I've stated before, maybe some players will leave the football club who can try and gain some more minutes and get some more playing time and we'll try and look around to see what we can add. I don't want to bring anyone in here who can't add anything, but we'll see what happens.”