And he might not be the only Premier League boss in for the Trinidad and Tobago international.

Under-pressure Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has also been linked with the 25-year-old, as has Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, whose side is struggling to keep pace with Chelsea in the title race this season.

Sunderland turned down a bid in the region of £15million from Tottenham last season, but a similar bid may appeal to Black Cats boss Steve Bruce as he looks to continue his building programme at the Stadium of Light.

Jones has not repeated the outstanding form he showed for Sunderland when he first arrived at the club, and Bruce may be willing to let him go ... as long as he can bring in a replacement striker to partner Darren Bent in the second half of the season.

If O'Neill does express an interest in Jones, then Bruce might consider a deal to bring either Villa forwards Emile Heskey or John Carew to Wearside.

Carew is currently out of favour at Villa, with Heskey getting the nod to start in recent games. There has been much speculation on Heskey's England hopes going into World Cup year, but it seems now that he might be getting the chance of regular football at Villa Park.

Liverpool have also been credited with an interest in Heskey, who was with the Anfield club from 2000-2004.

As transfer speculation grows, Steve Bruce has again been linked with Tottenham defender Michael Dawson and Coventry keeper Keiren Westwood.

Kenwyne Jones, meanwhile, is targeting a return to the Sunderland starting line-up for the Christmas games, starting with Everton on Boxing Day and then at Blackburn Rovers 48 hours later.

Jones was ruled him out of the November programme because of a three-game suspension, but finally got back on the scoresheet in last week's
4-3 defeat at Manchester City after coming on as a substitute.

"It was great to score last weekend because as a striker, that's what you are there to do and I hadn't scored for a while," he said.

"Of course it was disappointing for us to lose that game, especially after scoring three goals away from home but it's not something that I
think any of us are thinking about any more.

"You have to move on in football from one game to the next. After the City game was finished, I was thinking about Everton and about Blackburn.

"The games come very fast at this time of year and if you do have a disappointment, it's important to look ahead immediately to the next game. I think we have chances to do well in both games coming up."

Jones has six goals this season, but the striker's last goal before last weekend was in the 2-2 draw with Manchester back in October, eight appearances previously, and the striker was delighted to have ended the drought.

"Strikers want to be scoring regularly," he shrugged.

"But now that I've got a goal, I'm hoping to get another in our next game and another in the game after that.

"You always have to back yourself to score going into a game and I will go into the match feeling confident, even though Everton will be a tough game."