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

naa added 10:29 - May 4 Really? Another goalie? The man's obsessed! No wonder he thinks he needs 4-5 players if he is so insistent on getting players in positions that we don't really need. Let's just hope he's got the players in mind for left-midfield, striker, possibly a right-sided midfield and creative central midfield. Those are the positions we've been sorely lacking in this season.
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byebyesheepshanks added 10:30 - May 4 What a wonderful & genuine piece of blue sky thinking. A genuine recruitment brainwave. Go to Sunderland for their rejects. if only Roy had thought of that this season. I hear Ireland & Man U have very good players too.
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blueandred added 10:31 - May 4 How long before the Sunderland connection is mentioned? Damn! I've done it already!
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blueandred added 10:33 - May 4 And damn! I'm not a fast enough typist either :)
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byebyesheepshanks added 10:35 - May 4 As long as he's a character!
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BlueArch added 10:36 - May 4 I heard this rumour on Sunday night from a player at the awards do so wouldn't be suprised if it has a fair amount of truth
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naa added 10:36 - May 4 Oh, and if he's going to be back-up we shouldn't be getting someone so experienced who will command a fee. It's a total waste. Reserve keepers rarely play so why waste limited funds on one? If he was going to be number 1 it wouldn't be so bad as I'm not convinced by Murphy. But again, it's not something we really need at the moment. And glad I didn't mention the Sunderland connection!

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austractor added 10:37 - May 4 0_0 I also cant understand why he would bother with this signing. Absolute lowest priority. He was full of praise for Barrett when he deputised for jugs, and then murphy establsihed himself. He also signed that young keeper didnt he?
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Cardinals added 10:38 - May 4 Waste of time, transfer budget and wage budget! Hope this is a joke. If it was Joe Hart i probably wouldn't mind.
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ozzydog added 10:39 - May 4 WHY????????????????????????????????????
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agc232 added 10:42 - May 4 why?
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hollywoodginge added 10:44 - May 4 I seem to recall the same stupid comments when we signed begovic, turned out to be a great move, so we are looking at another keeper, probably on less wage than wrighty and with fresh prem experience, what part of that would be bad exactly? If indeed this is true. Moronic fans out!
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GlenPennyfather added 10:46 - May 4 He would definitely be number 1. We're not going to sign a Premiership keeper as a replacement for Wright and then make him sit on the bench.
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ShefTractor added 10:51 - May 4 I just don't think this makes sense. Wright was certainly worhty of wearing no.1, as is Murphy - both are top end goalies for this division.
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SouperJim added 10:57 - May 4 Let me recap for the above posters who don't appear to have actually read the article before attempting to engage brain:- "international" "Premier League" "a close friend of Town striker Tamás Priskin" "a fee well below his previous valuation" "Keane has stated that he likes to have three keepers in his squad" I saw him in goal for Man City on match of the day. Looked nervy to begin with, but grew in confidence as the game went on. Could be a big signing for us.

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byebyesheepshanks added 11:01 - May 4 goulash
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Vic added 11:02 - May 4 This is not a good start to the summer rebuilding in my opinion. Surely there are more pressing positions that we need to fill/get cover for! Both Murphy B &ALB have done more than capable jobs for us this season. Save the money and get better outfield players. Or maybe Marcus has given RK a bigger transfer kitty than we think?
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svendust added 11:06 - May 4 I was in favour of releasing R Wright, thinking it would free up some of the wage bill for another outfield player to come in but it looks like we're replacing R Wright with a player who will command equal or even higher wages and a fee and is no better than Wright. In any case who cares if he's better Murphy is number 1. I would have prefered ALB as number two then Ian McCloughin or another free signing for the third keeper. This a ridiculous decision, if Keane gets Fulop and fails to address the real problems we have in the squad he may as well leave now!

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Jesney_Havoc added 11:11 - May 4 Is this really our top priority ? We may as well have offer Richard Wright something. The obsession with Sunderland continues.... Presumably this extends to us landing a striker too. Darren Bent, come on home !
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JayITFC added 11:16 - May 4 My first thought was he wants to improve Priskin's frame of mind (as well as bring in a decent keeper to provide competition).
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naa added 11:17 - May 4 SouperJim: let me re-iterate the posters above's opinions: we don't need another keeper! Sure, he'd be a good signing, but some of those things you state could be stated about R Wright, and he probably won't be on a small wage if he was a highly rated premier league player. And he may like to have three keepers but one of those could be the reserve/youth keeper. The chances of needing three keepers is remote, at best and, should the need arise, that's what the loan system is for. Besides, I don't think people have a problem with this per se, just that it really isn't a position we need to worry about at the moment, so why waste money on it?

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southernblue added 11:20 - May 4 I do think we should remember that R Wright was probably on quite a high wage and was therefore off loaded for that reason. I doubt Fulop will demand such high wages and I see no problem in competition for places if we can afford it.
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ParisBlue added 11:23 - May 4 I'd much rather see us go fro Joe Lewis, especially as I'm not convinced with Murphy.
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brockleyblueboy added 11:27 - May 4 Jee whizz you guys and gals really fly off the handle so quickly. It is speculation you morons! How many times have many said "I'll believe it when I see it" etc etc You only need a small sniff to get on Roy Keanes back. I hear micky mouse and battlecat from He-Man are also said to have caught the eye.
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bluechick added 11:29 - May 4 Gosh another ex sunderland player. what a novelty
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