Hands Off Diouf and Chimbonda, Warns Sunderland Manager

Ricky Sbragia has revealed that he is determined to keep El Hadji Diouf and Pascal Chimbonda at Sunderland. "I want Dioufy and Pascal to stay," he said yesterday. "I've got 20 or so players I'm looking to hold on to and they're two of them."

Sunderland's manager has told "five or six" of his overblown first-team squad that he will be trying to move them on this month but Sbragia is discouraging interest in Diouf from Blackburn Rovers and does not want to permit Chimbonda to rejoin Tottenham on loan.

Roy Keane, the former Sunderland manager, fell out with both players but relationships are being repaired and Sbragia revealed he has spent much of this week "talking" to Diouf.

"It's no secret we've got too many professionals here and I'm looking to move some on but if I got bids for any of my 20 key players it would be a complete 'no'," he said. "I can't afford to lose them – if I do that I'd be better packing up and leaving the job."

Keane's successor will be given money to spend on the right defenders but Sbragia denied an interest in West Ham's Matthew Upson and said he did not believe Sunderland would prove sufficiently attractive to Liverpool's Sami Hyypia.

"We've earmarked one to buy," he revealed. "We're in dialog with a couple of clubs but we won't be held to ransom and on the other side of it we're not a charity here. I've got a figure in my mind I'll pay for someone and I won't go any higher than that."

Sbragia also stressed that Michael Chopra will not be returning to Cardiff, where the forward has just completed a loan spell, and that David Healy, a reputed Rangers target, has a future on Wearside.

"Chopra will not be moving," he said. "I need four strikers and he'll be one of the four. There is speculation about David Healy but I've had no contact with Rangers at all and David's definitely part of my plan."

Another aspect of that blueprint is re-investing some of Sunderland's money. "I think I have definitely got money to spend," said Sbragia. "If it's somebody big I can spend it. I don't think there is any limit to what I can spend. The money is there for me if there's somebody I earmark, I'm confident of that."