JEREMAIN LENS is confident of making an immediate attacking impact after completing an £8m move to Sunderland yesterday evening.

Lens signed a four-year deal to complete his switch from Ukrainian side Dynamo Kiev a matter of hours after flying into England to undergo a medical and complete personal terms.

The 27-year-old Dutchman, who previously worked under Black Cats head coach Dick Advocaat during his time at PSV Eindhoven and AZ Alkmaar, is an experienced international who can play in a variety of attacking or midfield positions.

He will add some much-needed pace and creativity to an attack that misfired on a number of occasions last season, and is expected to travel to America in the next few days to join up with a Sunderland squad who suffered a 1-0 friendly defeat to Sacramento Republic in the early hours of yesterday morning.

“I can play on the left wing, on the right wing and also as a forward,” said Lens, who helped Dynamo Kiev win the Ukrainian double last season. “My qualities are that I’m fast, I can score goals and I can create chances, so I hope that the supporters will see a lot of my qualities this season.

“I’m very happy to be a Sunderland player. I think it is a good club, and it is a great step for me to play in the Premier League. I followed the team last season following the arrival of Dick Advocaat, and we have a good team, so as I said I’m really happy to be here.

“I’ve played for the Dutch national team and played a lot of games in Europe, but the Premier League is the main test, so it will be really good to play some games here.”

Advocaat made Lens’ capture one of his leading priorities from the moment he agreed to return to Wearside, and the Dutchman is understandably delighted to have made his compatriot Sunderland’s third signing of the summer.

“We have signed an international player and I am delighted to welcome him to Sunderland,” said Advocaat. “He is a very well-known player in Europe and has played over 30 games for the Dutch national side, which shows his calibre.

“I have worked with him twice already, at PSV and AZ, so I know him well. He is fast and he has scored goals everywhere he has played, so that will help the team.”

While Lens has completed his move to Wearside, he will not be joined by Nicolas Lombaerts after a chaotic 24 hours that saw the collapse of the Belgian centre-half’s proposed move from Zenit St Petersburg.

Having previously downplayed suggestions of a failed medical, senior Sunderland sources are now claiming that tests did indeed reveal a problem related to a 2008 anterior cruciate ligament injury that left Lombaerts on the sidelines for the best part of a year.

Having identified an area of concern, Sunderland’s medical staff are understood to have sought a second opinion before opting to call off the deal.

However, Lombaerts disputes that sequence of events, claiming he pulled out of the transfer even though he had travelled all the way from Russia, having previously indicated that he was willing to accept Sunderland’s offer of personal terms.

While the Black Cats insist that a fee and terms had been agreed prior to Lombaerts’ medical examination, the 30-year-old defender claims that was not the case.

“I took the decision myself,” said Lombaerts. “I didn’t want to join Sunderland. The story about a failed medical is untrue. I want to stay in Russia. It’s a thoughtful decision – with Zenit we fight for trophies every season.”

Sunderland’s overnight defeat to Sacramento came courtesy of a 58th-minute strike from Cameron Iwasa, with Steven Fletcher having hit the crossbar for the Black Cats when the game was goalless.

Sunderland: Mannone; Matthew (Buckley 46), Beadling, Brown, O’Shea (Bridcutt 46); Larsson, Cattermole, Rodwell, Giaccherini (Wickham 46); Defoe (Watmore 66), Fletcher (Graham 46).