Wayne Bridge seals Sunderland loan move from Manchester City

Bridge, who began his career at Southampton, has 36 caps for England

Sunderland have signed Manchester City full-back Wayne Bridge on loan for the rest of the season.

The former Chelsea defender, 31, has only played once for City manager Roberto Mancini this season - in a 2-0 Carling Cup victory over Birmingham.

Capped 36 times for England, Bridge was signed by Mark Hughes in the January transfer window of 2009.

"I'm hoping that with Wayne's ability and experience he can be a big help," said Black Cats boss Martin O'Neill.

"I'm very pleased to have him here and with the number of injuries we've sustained recently I'm sure he'll be a great help to us."

The arrival of Aleksander Kolarov at City limited Bridge's opportunities and he had a loan spell at West Ham last season, but has only managed 78 minutes - in that Cup tie, in which he was substituted - for City's first team this season.

O'Neill moved for the experienced left-back after his defensive resources were further stretched by the loss of Wes Brown to a suspected medial ligament injury at the weekend.

Bridge joined Chelsea from his home-town club Southampton for £7m in July 2003 before his £12m switch to City.

But he has made only 58 appearances in three years at the Etihad Stadium.