Transfer news: Hull confirm signing of Danny Graham from Sunderland on season-long loan deal

Striker will move to KC Stadium having failed to score a goal with the Black Cats after joining in January

Danny Graham will hope for more first-team opportunities at Hull (Getty Images)

Hull have confirmed that they have taken Sunderland striker Danny Graham on a season-long loan deal as they look to battle to survival in their first year back in the Premier League.

Graham has struggled to make any impact since he switched from Swansea to Sunderland in January this year after the addition of Michu had seen his receive limited first-team opportunities at the Liberty stadium.

But the move came as a surprise given Graham’s childhood support of Newcastle United, fierce rivals of Sunderland, and he received a mixed reception when he joined the Black Cats for £5m.

Having signed a three-and-a-half year deal, Graham made 11 appearances for the club, but failed to score a single goal as he struggled to adapt to life at Sunderland.

It didn’t help that the manager that signed him, Martin O’Neill, was sacked at the end of March, and new boss Paolo Di Canio showed a reluctance to play Graham, which explains why he has been shipped out on loan so soon after his arrival.

Graham said on the move: "It's great to come to a club where everybody is on a high after winning promotion and I've only heard good things about this club.

"It's exactly the same as when I joined Swansea a couple of years ago, a club coming up into the Premier League. The stories for two clubs are very similar.

"I know I'm coming to a good club with a top manager, a fantastic stadium and some very good players."

Graham actually started his career at Middlesbrough – another of Newcastle’s rivals – where he was sent on-loan to Darlington, Derby, Leeds United and Blackpool, before a final loan move to Carlisle United became a permanent move once his contract had run out at the Riverside.

Having spent two years at Carlisle, he then moved to Watford where he made his name, scoring 38 league goals in 91 appearances in the Championship, and 24 goals in 2010/11 saw him named top goalscorer and Championship player of the year.

He moved to Swansea for £3.5m where he had a solid record. He scored 15 goals in 54 league appearances, and scored against Chelsea in the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg during Swansea’s triumphant cup run. However, Swansea felt he was surplus to requirements and allowed him to move on to Sunderland, but a below-par six months has seen him move to Hull for the 2013/14 season.