Liam Bridcutt, the Scotland internationalist, has revealed that his protracted transfer saga to Sunderland was quite the ordeal.

The £2.5m midfielder admitted there were times he thought his move from Brighton was in doubt.

"It was one of the hardest things that I've had to go through in my career," he said. "It went on for a month and was only done in the last two days. It was difficult. At one stage I didn't think it would happen."