SOCCER:Paul McShane, West Bromwich Albion's Republic of Ireland defender, became Roy Keane's latest signing for Sunderland last night but, during a frank assessment of the club's place and power in the transfer market, the manager said he would not be pursuing efforts to sign Hearts' goalkeeper Craig Gordon or Wigan's Leighton Baines.

McShane follows Russell Anderson, Kieran Richardson, Michael Chopra, Dickson Etuhu and Greg Halford to the Stadium of Light since the opening of the transfer window.

The Sunderland manager is familiar with the 21-year-old from Wicklow because McShane was a Manchester United trainee before joining Albion last autumn, who last night signed Luton's defender Leon Barnett for €3.7 million.

McShane made his international debut against the Czech Republic last October. He will cost Sunderland €2.24 million, which could rise to €3.7 million and take Sunderland's summer spending to about €22.4 million, a sum Keane called "peanuts" compared with other clubs.

Keane expressed "disappointment" at Baines's decision to turn down Sunderland but said recruitment was never going to be easy for the newly promoted club regardless of his presence as manager.

"You can't win them all. I spoke to Leighton last week and then he rang me the other night.

"He had his reasons and he rang me himself, he didn't get his agent to ring. I haven't got a problem with that, I have to say.

"He's a nice enough lad, not a problem, but he had his reasons for not coming to the club and we have got to respect that and wish him well.

"My job is to try to keep bringing players into the club that we think will improve us, and you are not going to win them all.

"We are disappointed, but life goes on. We wish Leighton well and we just kick on and continue to look to bring players into the club." And on Gordon, he added: "It's been well-documented that we made a bid for the lad in Scotland that was turned down.

"That's the end of it. I have got two very good goalkeepers, Marton Fulop and Darren Ward, so that's it, as far as I'm concerned."

"This summer was always going to be more difficult than last. We made inquiries for a player six weeks ago and he said: 'I have no intention of going anywhere near Sunderland. I won't waste your time; if I do leave I'm going to go abroad.' And that's fair enough. I respect him for that because he didn't speak money and send us on a wild-goose chase.

"I can understand players having a question mark over Sunderland. That's the reality, we have just been promoted. I'm sure Billy Davies (Derby County manager) and Steve Bruce (Birmingham City) will tell you the same."

"You have to respect the players' decisions. With some players, you get vibes and you think, 'We know this is going to be a hard one to pull off'. It was like me last year. I left (Manchester) United and I was never going to go to another team but Celtic.

"I spoke to other clubs and other clubs offered me two, three times the money within half an hour of my house, and I took a lot less money to travel three hours.

"It doesn't matter what, some players will have their minds set on what they are going to do, and you have to respect the players for that."

West Brom manager Tony Mowbray was high in his praise for McShane, who spent time on loan with Walsall and Brighton while with Manchester United: "I want to thank Paul for his contribution last season. He's a terrific lad with a terrific attitude to football. But Paul intimated to me in very strong terms that his ambitions lay away from this football club.

"I've said it many times before that I want players here who want to play for the shirt so that we can move the club forward.

"We've now sold three players who made it clear they wanted to leave. We now have an opportunity to build a new team with players who are fully committed to taking the club forward."

Sunderland winger Tobias Hysen could be heading back to Sweden. Keane has confirmed the club were in talks with an unnamed Swedish club - reportedly Gothenburg - over the 25-year-old, son of former Liverpool defender Glenn, who missed the pre-season trip to Portugal earlier this week.