Roy Keane cannot hide his excitement as he scours Europe for the players he wants for Sunderland's return to the Premiership.

Within days of seeing his side clinch their return to the top flight, Keane has already drawn up a list of targets as he prepares to invest around £25million in strengthening his squad.

The Black Cats boss is giving nothing away as to the identities of the men he believes can help his side not only cement their place in the Premiership, but make a major impact.

Keane, who will sit down with chairman Niall Quinn and chief executive Peter Walker over the next few weeks to discuss potential targets, said: "The players we are looking at, they excite me - and it takes a lot to get me excited, let me
tell you.

"I had a meeting yesterday with [chief scout] Mick Brown and we have drawn up another few players we hope to bring to the football club. But you have to remember this will take time because the players we are interested in are still playing in their seasons.

"There are international matches in the next month or two, the French league has got four games left and there are about six games left in the Spanish league. We are looking all over Europe, so as much as we are getting the ball rolling, we know it will take time and, in a sense, we have to be patient.

"But I will have a better understanding in the next week or two when I have had a chance to sit down with Niall and Peter and we can discuss properly what kind of monies are available in terms of transfer fees and the wage side of things.

"The top players would have been very reluctant, of course, to come to the Championship, but now we are in the Premiership, we hope we are in a stronger position to get them."

Former manager Peter Reid struggled to land his top targets the last time the club threatened to break into the upper reaches of the Premiership table — they finished seventh in successive seasons in 1999-2000 and 200-01 — as the likes of Robbie Keane and Eidur Gudjohnsen rejected the chance to head for Wearside.

However, Keane is confident the new regime at the Stadium of Light can overcome that problem.

He said: "Years ago, when they were doing well, they attracted some very good players and they spent a few bob. But it is different now. There are new owners, there is a new chairman, I am the manager here, the feelgood factor is most certainly back at the football club — it has been for the last few months."