Roy Keane has sealed deals for Spurs duo Tanio and Chimbonda this week and has promised a string of new signings in the week to come. Fees have already been agreed for another Spurs pairing, Kaboul and Malbranque while reports today are linking the Black Cats to Boro’s Downing and Bolton’s Diouf.

I’m not sure how excited Sunderland fans about the signings so far, or the players being linked to the club but there certainly doesn’t appear to be too much to get fantasy managers interested in the activity at the Stadium of Light.

While Tanio is a hard-working midfielder who will bring in tackles and other defensive stats in Opta based games like Yahoo and The Guardian, he’s not a player who will register goals or assists with any frequency.

Chimbonda meanwhile, is a strong fantasy prospect in attacking terms having scored 2 goals and 6 assists for Spurs last season in 31 starts. However, a tally of 7 clean sheets last term was never going to win him too many suitors and we’ll need reassurance that the Sunderland rearguard has improved before many are tempted by Chimbonda for the coming season. Sunderland also kept just 7 clean sheets last time out.

The same applies to Kaboul, although his move to Sunderland is in doubt with both Villa and Portsmouth looking to crash the deal. He has a decent free-kick strike on him, but will struggle to match Chimbonda’s attacking output for a similar price.

Malbranque’s 4 goals and 6 assists wasn’t a bad return last season but there are always better mid-price midfield options available that offer greater potential than the reliable Frenchman. He’ll need to threaten double figures for goals before he’ll get further interest this season.

Downing is likely to be a popular fantasy target this season but if Boro do let their left winger leave the club his potential will need reassessing. That is certainly a possibility given that Southgate has both Johnson and new signing Emnes in his ranks. We saw with Woodgate that if Southgate feels he has a replacement available, he is willing to let quality players leave the club.

I would say however that a Downing at Boro with Alves to aim for in the centre, is likely to return more points than a Downing at Sunderland who are without their key striker, Kenwyne Jones, for a lengthy period. Also, he’d be tussling with Reid for set-pieces – at Boro he has a monopoly on corners and free-kicks. Any move to Sunderland for Downing then, is likely to put a dent in his overall appeal to fantasy managers.

Diouf meanwhile is one of those players who suffers from his classification. Often classed as a forward, despite playing deeper or wide roles for Bolton, he’s never caught fire in fantasy terms. Four goals and 7 assists last season was another consistent return for Bolton, but not enough for a mid-price forward. A move to Sunderland could boost his appeal if Keane was to use him as an out-and-out centre forward but I’m not so sure he could pull off such a role in the Premiership. Then of course, there is the cloud of disciplinary doubts hanging over him.

It looks likely to be an interesting week in the transfer market – maybe Sunderland will give us one or two players to consider by the end of it.