CHARLIE WYKE has finally got his wish to return to the North-East by completing a move to Sunderland worth £1m.

The former Middlesbrough striker, born and brought up on Teesside, has been the subject of strong interest from Wearside throughout the summer.

Now Wyke has finalised a deal after a fee was agreed of £600,000, potentially rising to £1m with add-ons, for the 25-year-old and he completed a medical at the Academy of Light.

Sunderland - who have confirmed that George Honeyman will be the club’s new captain - had two offers rejected for Wyke and the second is believed to have amounted to the £600,000 without the additional extras which Bradford will now rake in on appearances and promotion.

He is the sort of powerful centre-forward well equipped for League One and has a proven record at that level, which is exactly what Jack Ross has been looking to bring to his squad.

Wyke said: “I’m delighted to get it over the line so that I can concentrate on my football again.

“It’s a massive club, and coming from the North-East, I know exactly how much it means to people.

“The one thing that everybody wants here is promotion, so we have to get that and win as many games as we can. I can’t wait to get started.”

Wyke is currently nursing a knee injury sustained during pre-season, so he will not be available for the first few games starting with the League One opener against Charlton on Saturday.

In January 2017 he moved to Bradford in a £250,000 deal and they have been hoping he would sign a contract extension after entering the final 12 months.

Rather than risk seeing him leave for free next summer they have agreed to cash in now, knowing he is keen to return to his native region.

Wyke leaves Bradford with a fine record of 22 goals in his 56 league appearances. He averaged a goal every two starts in the league during his two-year spell with Carlisle before that.

He decided to head for the Cumbrians in January 2015 on a free after a relatively successful loan with Hartlepool when he was at Middlesbrough. It was during his time at Boro he also had loans at Kettering and Wimbledon.

Wyke has become the 11th signing of an active summer on the transfer front under Ross and owner Stewart Donald has ended the search for an out-and-out centre forward. The busy nature of the window is expected to continue up until next Thursday’s deadline.

The challenge is now mainly to offload the players who don’t want to be around. Lamine Kone is one of those and he completed his own medical and signed a season-long loan deal at Strasbourg on the same day.

The French club, who signed Newcastle goalkeeper Matz Sels last month for £3.5m, were granted permission to do a loan with a view to a permanent transfer, even though Sunderland would have rather had him off their books for good.

Sunderland will head into their opening game with Charlton having sold approaching 22,000 season cards – a record for League One. They now hope life at that level will also see them top the highest ever average crowd for a campaign in the third tier.

Manchester City currently hold the previous best with a total of 28,261 some 20 years ago and after seeing the reaction from fans to the takeover this summer, Sunderland chiefs hope to beat this.

There have been 26,000 tickets sold for the Charlton game, but executive director Charlie Methven said: “Saturday not only heralds the start of a new season, but also a new dawn at Sunderland AFC.

“We have set a target to beat Man City’s record and become the best supported third tier side in modern football history. Doing so will send out a clear message that we are Sunderland, we are proud of who we are and that despite the challenges of recent seasons, the club has its chest out again.

“My message to fans is that whether you’re a season card holder or can only attend a handful of games, you have an important part to play in shaping the future of your football club. Having everyone on the same page – fans, players, staff – will make us a tough proposition to beat this year and beyond.”