Town boss Roy Keane is targeting Sunderland keeper Marton Fulop to compete with Brian Murphy and Arran Lee-Barrett for the Blues' number one shirt next season. Hungarian international Fulop was signed by Keane when he was manager at the Stadium of Light.

The 27-year-old, who has another year left on his Sunderland contract, started his career with MTK Hungaria during which time he went on loan to Elöre and Siófok, also in his homeland.

After a three-day trial in July 2004, the 6ft 5in tall keeper joined Spurs. In 2004/05 he spent time on loan at Chesterfield, then the following season joined Coventry on a similar basis.

In November 2006 he joined Sunderland, making his move to the Stadium of Light a permanent one in the following January for a fee of £900,000.

Fulop, who has won 20 Hungarian caps, moved on loan to Leicester in August 2007 and was expected to stay with the Foxes until the end of the season. However, after the clubs failed to agree a fee for his permanent move to the Walkers Stadium in the following January — Leicester offered £1 million, Sunderland wanted £3 million — he returned to Wearside.

In February 2008 he briefly joined Stoke on loan but was recalled after four days to cover an injury at Sunderland, however, the Potters and Black Cats agreed a £3 million fee that summer but the move eventually broke down.

This season Fulop, whose contract is up in the summer of 2011, has made only 14 appearances for the Black Cats with Craig Gordon currently the first choice and Trevor Carson the regular sub.

Last week, Fulop joined Manchester City on an emergency loan basis as cover for the injured Shay Given, making his debut in Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Aston Villa, but his move to Eastlands is not expected to stretch beyond the final games of the Premier League season.

The Wearsiders may well be willing to allow the Hungarian, who is a close friend of Town striker Tamás Priskin, to leave for a fee well below his previous valuation.

Blues boss Roy Keane has stated that he likes to have three keepers in his squad with Richard Wright departing in the summer.

Photo: Action Images

SouperJim added 13:45 - May 4 naa: my post was in response to the several people simply asking "why?". Some reasons why were clearly outlined in the article. I would agree that another keeper hardly seems a priority, but I would imagine that Roy Keane does not control what order these speculative stories appear in. I also agree with JayITFC that the positive effect this could have on Priskin, if the link does have any substance, probably makes up a decent portion of our interest. But then I thought Keane is meant to be such a useless man-manager? While I'm here, every single story linking us with a player is littered with hilarious and imaginative comments along the lines of "well he's irish lol" or "another sunderland reserve, keane out" or occasionally "can't be true, he's never played for sunderland or man u". I've got some shocking news for you all. All good managers stick with what they know. To say these kind of posts are getting tedious is an understatement. Get over it, or at least post something original.

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Yallop added 13:47 - May 4 RW best keeper at the club??!! Did you see the first 15 games this season? Fulop has performed well at Sunderland and prior to Bruce taking over was ahead of Gordon for a long period
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osborne1nil added 14:06 - May 4 Yallop, did you not see the shambles of a defense in front of him too? Also was he not player of the season the year before. Gareth Mcauley started off the season pants and ends up player of the year! Why spend money on another keeper when he supposedly has got the new number 1 in Murphy? He could have saved that money and negotiated a lower contract with RW who IMO was still ITFC number 1. Still anything RK does seems puzzling, we shall see but I too don't think this is one of the priorities for this year. Wish he would widen his scouting network a little bit further a field too!

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WickedBlue added 14:13 - May 4 Oh give it rest morons......he isn't going after players this summer on a priority basis in other words this goalie comes in doesn't make him RK most important signing it means he was able to do this deal first. We needed a goalkeeper that would be able to push Murphy and though I like ALB I don't think he is the one to that, RW would have but as someone said it probably had more to do with his wages. It's going to be a long hard summer, we are going to be linked with loads of players until he actually signs someone I would suggest you children keep your toys in your pram.....

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reusersfreekicks added 14:23 - May 4 hope it's not true - not needed unless he has a good goalscoring record!
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arc added 14:23 - May 4 Madness. Murphy #1, L-B #2, McLoughlin #3. If there is a crisis, get a loaner. This is just money down the drain. (And I expect it won't happen.)
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emergencylime added 14:34 - May 4 Maybe he's going to play him up front?
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stinkiusminkius added 15:23 - May 4 Oh god this is actually getting laughable now. In order to avoid mass depression about keane still being here and what transfer dealings he makes, I am going to find the humour in it all. Keane is actually becoming like some comedy Little Britain character - the football manager with the worst scouting network in the world.
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steed added 15:49 - May 4 This is yet more lazy writting by who ever wrote this articual. keane wouldnt sign him beacuse we have three keepers murphy, lee-barrett and mcloughlin who keane offered a new contract too.
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Lightningboy added 16:06 - May 4 I'm finding it seriously worrying if this latest link is true.. Keane has admitted himself that he's not good on the phone..so basically.. A) we've got a guy in charge of our team who doesn't like communicating with fellow managers (apart from his ex utd team-mates,especially the one at sunderland)..which is great isn't it, considering that's a big part of his job. B) doesn't communicate with the chairman (allegedly). C) doesn't communicate very well with his players (which is why they're looking as clueless as to what's going on as we are - and his half-time talks obviously aren't that inspiring judging by some of our 2nd halfs this season). D) doesn't communicate with the fans - hence his non-appearance after the game on sunday - and don't give me the embarrassment excuse Roy - you should've come out and thanked the fans for sticking by you,rather than scurrying off down the tunnel to moan at another press conference. This situation is becoming more and more laughable by the day.

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Lightningboy added 16:11 - May 4 ..oh and stinkiusminkius - i'm with you on this..you've got to laugh otherwise I think i'd be slitting my wrists at the prospect of another year under this clown. Our owner must have a great sense of humour.
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DodgyKeeper added 16:12 - May 4 NO NO NO
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ITFCed added 16:14 - May 4 We know what happened to the last Hungarian to join the club. However Fulop might make Priskin more at home which could improve his form
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Yallop added 16:26 - May 4 I really don't see what the big deal is. RK is chasing a keeper that is better than all of those that we currently have including Richard Wright who hasn't played consecutive games in the Premier League for nearly 10 years
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naa added 16:38 - May 4 Yallop: I think the point is that we don;'t need another keeper. Sure, if he is better than what we have (and are you sure that he is?), fine. But as they say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". We clearly need some building this summer, and a goalie doesn't appear to be something we need. As for Wright, he was player of the year last year and had about 4 poor games this season. In fact if you look at the TWTD votes he was in the top three players in MOTM votes pretty much every time this season until his first poor showing (about 9 games in). He had about 3 or 4 poor games and was gone. Harsh.

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Lightningboy added 16:43 - May 4 Our best player performance of the season for me was Richard Wright's vs WBA...if it hadn't been for him that day we'dve lost 10-0.
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naa added 16:55 - May 4 yeah thanks for screwing the page up ChambersM.
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Seasider added 17:10 - May 4 At least he isnt Irish even though is from Sunderland.Looks like RK the Organ Grinder and his Monkey ought to get the scouting system sorted as well as the coaching
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Yallop added 17:12 - May 4 Have I missed something. Where has RK or ME said that if we buy a keeper we can't buy a full back, winger and center forward. Yes a goalie might not be top priority but so what if he is better than what we have then get him.
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Wickets added 17:14 - May 4 I just knew when r wright was allowed to leave Keano had a better keeper lined up Good work Keano and great comments Souper Jim.
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TractorBoyOlly added 18:07 - May 4 Not another Sunderland reject thank you very much.
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Suffolk_n_Good added 18:33 - May 4 MY TARGET IS 50 "lINKED WITH" PLAYERS, FULOP IS NUMBER 5!
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Daleyitfc added 19:24 - May 4 Jim Montgomery anyone?
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fatronaldo added 19:57 - May 4 Can't see why not? He's got a lot of experience and BM has not looked THAT good tbh. Surely he wont cost a lot and he's soon getting to his best age as goalkeeper. Sign him up!
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ChambersM added 21:22 - May 4 you cant tell me his wages will be lower than Richard Wright's??? WHy get rid of a decent keeper,..,,we would be fine with ALB, BM and RW.....whats the point in getting rid of one just to splash out on someone who wil MAYBE be slightly better?
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