Town manager Roy Keane revealed that he is close to signing two players from the same club after last night's 2-1 defeat to Finn Harps in Ireland. The names of the duo aren't yet known but one of them is Irish.

Keane said: "We have agreed a price with two players from a club I hope to meet in the next 48 hours, one of them is Irish.”

Innumerable Sunderland players who played under Keane at the Stadium of Light have been linked with the Blues since he took over as manager with Irish duo Daryl Murphy and Paul McShane recently most hotly tipped to join their old boss.

Striker David Healy, midfielders Dean Whitehead, Carlos Edwards, Jordan Henderson and Connor Hourihane have also been linked, although the latter two as potential loanees, while we understand that central defender or full-back Nyron Nosworthy is amongst the players interesting Keane this summer.

Keane, however, implies that his new signings might not come from Sunderland when questioned about Murphy and McShane: "I've been linked with about 70 players since I took the job, they are two players that did very well for me a Sunderland, but it is difficult for us to get players out of the Premiership for lots of reasons and I can't keep coming back to the same players I had at Sunderland either.

"At Sunderland I spent about £6 million when I first arrived. If I can spend about £6 million here and get this team promoted I'll be very pleased. There is also the option of one or two loan players.”

Keane said the game against the Harps showed him areas to work on: "I have always enjoyed coming to Ireland. Finn Harps did well, they did exactly what I expected them to do, and they showed very good fitness levels.

"I learned a lot about one or two of my players. I am taking stock very quickly of what we have and what we don't have.”

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