Keane refuses to be held to ransom at Sunderland

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The 36-year-old Irishman is working hard to strengthen his squad for a second-half push, and last week managed to persuade Manchester United counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson to loan him central defender Jonny Evans for the second successive season.

Armed with a £20million budget he is now busily trying to recruit the permanent signings he believes will improve what he already has after spending almost £36million during the summer following promotion from the Coca-Cola Championship.

However, he is adamant he will not recruit any player unless he is confident they are fully committed to the cause and not just looking for a pay-day in the highly-charged January market.

Keane said: "It can go either way. You look at clubs over the last few years who have bought well in January - I know it is not an ideal time to buy, most top managers would tell you that the best time to wheel and deal is in the summer.

"But the way things have gone for us, particularly with the injuries, we have to bring in a few players - and I felt we were short anyway at the start of the season.

"It is an important period, don't get me wrong, and beggars can't be choosers.

"But we cannot be too clever. We have to go for the ones we think are right and the good characters who want to come to Sunderland. I keep saying we want players who want to come to the club. Jonny certainly wanted to come back and the two players we made progress on last week encouraged me to feel that they want to come to Sunderland.

"That is the priority, that they want to come to the club and they are not just picking up easy money."

Keane is remaining coy about his targets, although he will make a decision on 30-year-old former United team-mate Quinton Fortune, who has been training on Wearside for the last month, some time this week with the indications being that he will be offered a deal.

Reading's Stephen Hunt has done little to quell speculation that he could head for the Stadium of Light, while team-mate Leroy Lita and former Royal Steve Sidwell, as well as Blackburn's Robbie Savage and Portsmouth midfielder Matt Taylor, are among those also to have been linked with the Wearsiders.

Keane is giving little away, but revealed that the two men with whom he made progress at the end of last week and whose signatures he hopes to tie up within the next 24 hours, would be competing for starting berths from the off.

He said: "They have a good chance of coming straight into the team, and what impact they make will be decided mostly by the player who comes in.

"But we are delighted with Jonny and the two players we made progress on last week would make a big contribution, we hope, to Sunderland over the next few seasons.

"Until the player signs, of course, you cannot get ahead of yourself, but we made progress. Other deals have gone a bit flat."

Keane freely admits that his side's Barclays Premier League plight - they currently lie in 18th place and have won only two of their last 15 league games - will not help his efforts to add new faces, and Saturday's humiliating FA Cup third round exit at the hands of Wigan will have done little to enhance his prospects.

However, he is confident the club's pulling power remains intact for the calibre of player he hopes to bring in.