ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:AFTER A LONG, quiet period of inactivity in the transfer market this summer, Sunderland are suddenly on the verge of making four signings, all of them from Tottenham Hotspur.

It is understood the Wearside club have agreed a joint fee of around £23 million for Steed Malbranque, Teemu Tainio, Younes Kaboul and Pascal Chimbonda and the deal is sufficiently advanced that all four left the Spurs training camp in Spain yesterday to travel to Sunderland to discuss the move further today.

Nothing was official as of last night and Chimbonda has been linked strongly with Everton in recent days, but Spurs manager Juande Ramos has made no secret of his desire to revolutionise the playing staff at White Hart Lane.

Roy Keane is anxious to see his squad evolve and his confidence yesterday may have reflected the knowledge that wheels were in motion. Yet eyebrows will be raised at the scale of the prices Sunderland are being forced to consider. That, though, is the reality of Sunderland's position, a situation Keane discovered last summer.

The arrival of even two of the four would in turn lead to several departures from the Stadium of Light, though Keane said yesterday afternoon Liam Miller was not planned to be one of them.

Miller's Sunderland career appeared over when he was placed on the transfer list in February because of his timekeeping, but Keane said yesterday Miller was "coming off the list" along with Ross Wallace.

"I'm going to take him off the list," Keane said of Miller. "It's a new season and it's a new beginning for everyone in the squad. It's the same for Ross Wallace. I don't think Liam will make Portugal because he's got a slight foot injury, but I'll take him off the list. I'd actually forgotten they were still on there."

Miller and Wallace are two of those to impress Keane with their attitude in pre-season, and while he emphasised that alone should not be praised, the temperature of talk regarding Miller was considerably warmer than five months ago.

But then it was a buoyant Keane who appeared at Sunderland's training ground prior to the pre-season trip to Portugal, where Sunderland play Sporting Lisbon on Sunday night and Setubal next Wednesday.

Nothing was off the agenda, bar the names of those Keane would like to sign, including the situation of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Keane said he can see both sides of that argument.

But it was on the subject of Sunderland's immediate future that Keane was most animated. As far as he is concerned, this is a summer that could make the club, if he gets who he wants. But within his optimism there was a warning to chairman Niall Quinn and chief executive Peter Walker that Sunderland have to show some financial clout if they are really to compete in the Premier League.

"This is me not frustrated," Keane said. "If I was frustrated this vein on my forehead would be bulging out. Maybe in two or three weeks I might be, but I know for a fact Niall and Peter are working extremely hard.

"This is a big summer; the club needs to make a statement, very much so. I said that at the end of last season. I do know Niall and Peter are working extremely hard, I know they are.

"But it's all well and good saying we're nearly there. The real dealmakers get over the line. We have been accused of not making those deals and history shows we don't. I am talking five or six to take us to the next level.

"We want to change history, I want to change the history of the club; that's the statement we want to make. Real Madrid say every summer they will sign the best players in the world - that's a statement about what their club is all about. I hope our signings will say we are ready to go to the next level and that's the teams just above us, the Middlesbroughs and the Blackburns. We were competitive with Blackburn last year, but we still lost the games.

"It's like the transfer deals. Nearly, never made it.

"It's about bringing in top-quality players and we have not really done that in terms of bringing in players from other top clubs. Last year we brought a lot of players in from the Championship. They did a good job for us, but we know if we want to go to better places we need to add quality and numbers.

"That happens by negotiating with the top clubs."

With Keane confirming Kenwyne Jones is out for the first two months of next season at least, a new centre forward is a priority.

The interest in Darren Bent remains - though buying him would mean returning to Spurs with even more money.