Swansea City midfielder Leon Britton has joined Sheffield United on a free transfer after turning down a new contract at the Liberty Stadium.The 27-year-old attracted interest from Premier League side Wigan Athletic along with Swansea and United's fellow Championship rivals Middlesbrough.
Britton, who joined Swansea in 2002, made 335 league and cup appearances and scored 14 goals for the Welsh club.
"First and foremost this is a massive club," said Britton.
"I was here with Swansea for the penultimate one and the special atmosphere from that day is still fresh in my mind."
Britton is the third player to join the Blades in the space of a week following the arrivals of Johnny Ertl from Crystal Palace and Daniel Bogdanovic from Barnsley.
"It has been a protracted process because it started after we played Sheffield Wednesday in mid April when we had arranged to meet in the hotel and I began preliminary talks with him," manager Kevin Blackwell told the club's official website.
"Leon is a player of real quality, the sort we have missed at this club since the days when we had Stuart McCall and Michael Brown in the middle of the park."
Britton's future had been in question since December after saying he was "surprised and disappointed" that Swansea City boss Paulo Sousa has made public details of his contract negotiations.
I think its fairly common knowledge that he hasn't got on with Sousa so this may also be a factor considered
milkymilman
Sousa claimed Swansea had offered to make Britton one of the club's best players.
He was linked with a move to Wigan - where former manager Roberto Martinez is in charge - in the January transfer window, before a deal was understood to have collapsed at the last moment.
Britton reportedly claimed towards the end of the season that he tried to restart contract talks with Swansea in March, only to be told to wait until the campaign ended.
But the move to Bramall Lane will come as a surprise to many Swans supporters who expected him to leave to play in the Premier League.
Britton, who attracted the highest transfer fee for a teenager when West Ham signed him from Arsenal for £400,000 in 1998, joined Swansea on a free transfer in the summer of 2003 after an initial loan spell.
During that loan spell, he helped the then League Two club survive relegation from the Football League.
And he has since played a key role in transforming the club from a bottom division struggler to a team that is flying high in the Championship.
As well as winning promotion from League Two, Britton was a League One title winner and in between celebrated FA Trophy success, but also tasted play-off final heartache.
His seven years at the club made him one of the longest-serving current players alongside defender Alan Tate.
Source: BBC Sport
Source: BBC Sport