SUNDERLAND'S impending signing Jewison Bennette has spoken of his excitement over his move to the Stadium of Light and has made a promise to 'work twice as hard' for his new team. 

The 18-year-old winger was at Juan Santamaria Airport on Monday where he was expected to fly to Wearside and completed a permanent move.

Bennette, who has six international caps to his name for Costa Rican, is expected to become the club's fifth signing of the summer following in the footsteps of Dan Ballard, Aji Alese, Jack Clarke and Ellis Simms. 

Bennette told ESPN: "Very happy, excited about this new opportunity, I hope to do things well and do my best to move forward.

"It's a new challenge, new goals and I think I'm very excited about it, because of my family who has always supported me and I'm going to give it my all."

It's not known whether Bennette is expected to link up with the Under-23's squad or will be a part of Alex Neil's first-team. However, he will be harbouring hopes of making it into the Costa Rica squad for the winter World Cup in Qatar. 

The man who handed him his international debut, Luis Fernando Suarez, has received a promise from Bennette after news of his impending switch to Sunderland broke. 

The winger continued: "I called him (Suaraz) and thanked him for all the opportunities he gave me and the appreciation he has given me, the opportunity to put me in important games was vital to be able to fulfill this dream."

He added: "I explained to him about the offer and he was very happy and told me that now I had to work twice as hard because back in Europe with the rate here is not enough, I have to work twice as hard."

Sunderland will be hoping to push through the deal in time for this weekend's Championship tie against Norwich City which is a lunchtime kick-off at the Stadium of Light.