Sunderland boss Roy Keane is adamant that his transfer targets will not be altered by the extent of Kenwyne Jones' knee injury.The Irishman and his players will fly out on their pre-season trip to Portugal on Friday with no new faces on board and with their star striker anxiously awaiting a verdict on the ligament damage he suffered in Trinidad and Tobago's friendly clash with England last month.
However, Keane is expecting significant movement on the transfer market in the next week and hopes to have made five or six signings by the time the new season kicks off on August 16.
Despite months of speculation, the manager has revealed he is yet to sit down face-to-face with a single player as chairman Niall Quinn and chief executive Peter Walker attempt to thrash out deals.
But, having been linked with the likes of Tottenham's Darren Bent, Everton's Andrew Johnson and Manchester United's Louis Saha in recent weeks, he has insisted the recruitment of any frontman would be to complement Jones rather than replace him.
Keane said: "I am still looking at certain players who I want to bring to the club anyway.
"Obviously, it is disappointing that we are going to miss Kenwyne, of course, but it has not changed my attitude to which players I was looking to bring to the club anyway.
"We have been linked with players I have not even spoken to anybody about. I am not going to talk about players who are under contract at their clubs.
"We have had one or two bids turned down for very good players, but we move on now.
"We had a certain list of players we wanted to bring to the club - if I thought we were going to get them all, I would have been delighted.
"But it hasn't taken away from the other players I want to bring to the club. You are going to get knock-backs and that is part of wheeling and dealing.
"We are hoping to bring quality players in. The players I have got in mind, I am hopeful would bring real quality to the team."
Keane, who confirmed without naming names that some of his fringe players could leave the club within days, is hopeful that things will start moving before the squad returns from the Algarve next weekend - with four more Tottenham players, Steed Malbranque, Pascal Chimbonda, Younes Kaboul and Teemu Tainio all on Sunderland's radar.
He said: "We have valuations and one or two deals, we will have to back off; sometimes you have to keep going and keep going, and we are certainly doing that.
"I am pretty sure that this time next week, we will have plenty of new faces at the club.
"But it takes time. Niall and Peter are in negotiation with a few clubs at this moment and we are getting very close to them.
"We are on about signing players, but first and foremost, you have to agree a deal with a club and we have not managed to do that with a few players in terms of getting an opportunity to speak to them.
"That's all I ask for. I always say to Niall and Peter, 'just give me a chance to speak to the player' and if we can make a deal happen, well and good.
"But I have not had that opportunity. I have not spoken to one player yet, but hopefully, that will change over the next week or so."
However, Keane confirmed that Steaua Bucharest defender Dorin Goian is unlikely to be among the new arrivals after the Black Cats pulled out of a deal to bring him to the Stadium of Light.
In the meantime, the former Manchester United midfielder has not given up hope of seeing Jones pull on his boots again this year amid speculation that he could be sidelined until well after Christmas by his injury.
A further assessment will be made when he sees his
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