Bayern Munich defender Kirchhoff moves to Sunderland

English football club Sunderland AFC has completed the signing of Bayern Munich defender Jan Kirchhoff for an undisclosed fee.

The 25-year-old, 6ft-5inch centre-back on Thursday put pen-to-paper on an eighteen-month deal which will see him remain at Sunderland until June 2017.

The former Germany Under-21 international began his career at FC Mainz, graduating from the youth academy to make 58 appearances for the first team, before earning himself a move to Bundesliga giants FC Bayern in 2013.

While with the Bavarians he enjoyed two spells on loan at FC Schalke, adding to the UEFA Champions League experience he had already garnered with Pep Guardiola's side.

"Jan has a very good pedigree and even though he is still relatively young he has experience of football at the highest level, including the UEFA Champions League," Sunderland head coach Sam Allardyce said.

"He has real versatility as a player, being comfortable in both the centre back and midfield roles. He is desperately keen to experience the Premier League and our job now is to do everything we can to help him settle and adapt quickly to life in English football, so he can have a positive impact on our squad."