Roy Keane reveals failed £18m transfer attempt at Sunderland before eventual departure

Roy Keane has revealed he wanted to sign Darren Bent at Sunderland while he was manager.

The former Manchester United legend has claimed that he was keen to sign the striker after Sunderland's promotion to the Premier League but the club were priced out of a deal despite later going on to sign the poacher from Spurs the following season.

Bent ended up making 63 Sunderland appearances and netting 36 goals before moving to Aston Villa in controversial circumstances. Bent signed for Sunderland from Tottenham Hotspur for a club-record fee of £10million initially (plus potential additional payments which later rose to £16.5million) under one of Keane's successors to the Academy of Light hot seat, Steve Bruce.

“Budgets come into it [signing players]. I remember when we got promoted with Sunderland," Keane told The Overlap. "I wanted Darren Bent who was at Spurs, and I spoke to Niall Quinn and said that he would keep Sunderland up. Niall was straight with me and said that we couldn’t afford him – Spurs were asking for £17 or £18 million, and we had up to about £13 million.

“Steve Bruce signed him a year later and he was brilliant for them. Once the club says we can’t go there, that’s when people start to move goalposts and we see it with clubs all the time. You need to be upfront with each other and if it’s as simple as he’s out of our range, particularly budget-wise, then you back away. What happens is that you panic and start going down the list.”