Bassila ready for Cats debut.

Byline: By Paul Gilder

Christian Bassila is poised to make his Sunderland debut at Wigan this weekend after Auxerre failed to hijack the midfielder's move to the Stadium of Light.

The Frenchman last night became Mick McCarthy's 11th acquisition of the summer as he signed a two-year contract following a successful trial on Wearside.

The 27-year-old's arrival had been cast into doubt on Tuesday when it emerged that Auxerre had tabled a rival bid and were confident of securing Bassila's services. But having agreed to become a Black Cat at the start of the week, the former Strasbourg schemer kept his word and was last night heading back to the North-East.

"He trained with us and impressed us," said McCarthy, whose side have lost all three of their opening fixtures so far this season.

"He is a defensive midfielder but he can also play in the back-four. He plays it simple, breaks things up and he handles the ball well. He is big and powerful."

Bassila's versatility will be a useful asset to the Black Cats and he could have an important contribution to make in a variety of positions. In the short term, it seems that the former French Under-21 international will be used to anchor the Wearside midfield. That is likely to cause problems for Carl Robinson, who lost his first-team place for Tuesday's visit of Manchester City to the Stadium of Light. Having yet to collect a Premiership point, it seems McCarthy is keen to make his team a more resilient unit.

Bassila will train with the first-team squad at the Academy of Light this morning. And, with the Black Cats' boss expected to change his formation again for the visit to the JJB Stadium, the former West Ham loan player is hoping to get a taste of the action at Wigan.

Sunderland last night said Bassila had had several options following his release by Strasbourg and had turned down a number of clubs to join the Cats.