He may be football's newest manager but Roy Keane was arguably
the busiest yesterday. He signed no fewer than six players, the
most high-profile being Dwight Yorke, who was also the first to
complete his move in a £200,000 deal.
Once Yorke had been recruited, Keane not surprisingly put his
energy into midfield positions. Wigan's Graham Kavanagh signed for
£400,000 and United's Liam Miller on a free transfer on a
three-year contract...
Then late last night Keane secured another Republic of Ireland
player, the striker David Connolly, from Wigan in a deal believed
to be worth £1.4m.
Kavanagh, 32, is precisely the sort of central midfield enforcer
Sunderland have lacked since Gavin McCann's sale to Villa and will
be welcomed by supporters.
Looking to acquire players he not only knows but has played
alongside, Keane turned to another of his former clubs, Celtic, who
allowed Ross Wallace and Stanislav Varga to travel south for talks.
Both men signed last night.
Wallace, 21, is a Scotland Under-21 left-winger with pace and
crossing precision. Varga is an imposing, 6ft 5in Slovakian central
defender who left Slovan Bratislava in 2000 to sign for Peter
Reid's Sunderland, where he experienced mixed fortunes before
joining Celtic.
Varga, 33, is likely to line up alongside the former Newcastle
left-back Robbie Elliott, 32. Elliott has been on a one-month
contract at Sunderland but Keane, having liked what he has seen of
him in training, yesterday extended that agreement until the end of
January.
