Wales forward Craig Bellamy completed his transfer from West Ham United to Manchester City on Monday after the London club turned down an offer from Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester City confirmed the deal on their website (www.mcfc.co.uk) saying Bellamy, 29, had agreed a four-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee.
He will join up with his new team mates at their training camp in Tenerife later this week and could make his debut against Newcastle United, one of his former clubs, on Jan 28.
"I am delighted to be working with Craig once more," City manager Mark Hughes, who was in charge at Blackburn Rovers when Bellamy played there, said in a statement.
"He is an outstanding player who provides us with qualities that we are lacking slightly. He has blistering pace, has bags of enthusiasm, has a superb attitude to training and will be a great addition to the squad."
Spurs had offered around 14.0 million pounds ($20.29 million) but when City made their third offer of the transfer window West Ham allowed Bellamy to enter personal negotiations and, after completing a medical, he signed on Monday evening.
Bellamy was left out of the West Ham side which beat Fulham on Sunday with manager Gianfranco Zola saying he was not in the right frame of mind to play.
Fast and direct, the often-volatile forward is much-travelled, having established his reputation at Norwich City in the 1990s and then been transferred for a total of more than 30.0 million pounds in his various moves.
He went to Coventry City and then played for Newcastle, Celtic on loan, Blackburn, and Liverpool before moving to West Ham for 7.5 million pounds at the start of the 2007-08 season.
Injuries have limited his appearances for the Upton Park club and he has made only 22 starts in all competitions.
The Wales captain is City's second big January signing following the arrival of fullback Wayne Bridge from Chelsea.
Dutch international midfielder Nigel De Jong has also been given permission to speak to City about a move from Hamburg SV.
The biggest of the lot, however, that of Kaka for a fee reported to be around 92 million pounds, is still up in the air. The Brazilian's father, who also acts as his agent, held talks with AC Milan's chief executive earlier on Monday.