Black cats bag Piper

The highly-rated 20-year-old only made his first team debut last season, but his emergence was one of the few positive aspects of a campaign which saw The Foxes relegated.

Leicester's failure to retain their Premiership status is the reason behind Piper's sale, although the City faithful have been left bemused by the transfer.

However, Leicester's loss is certainly Sunderland's gain and manager Peter Reid was delighted to confirm Piper as his fifth signing of the summer, following the arrivals of Sean Thornton, Phil Babb, Thomas Myhre and Stephen Wright.

"I have been monitoring the player since last season," said Reid.

"He has great pace to go past players and get crosses in."

Piper, who rejected a move Southampton before sealing his switch to Wearside, was happy to have finally put pen-to-paper.

"I am very happy to be joining Sunderland," he told the official Sunderland website.

"I came on as a sub for Leicester last season at the Stadium of Light when Sunderland won the match and the atmosphere was tremendous.

"It's an exciting move for me."

The Sunderland fans are also likely to be enthused by the arrival of the tricky wide man.

Meanwhile, tragedy has struck Black Cats defender Jody Craddock as his four-month-old son, Jake,  has been a victim of cot death.

As a mark of respect, the club have postponed the reserve team game with Birmingham City.