Sunderland unveiled their latest signing, Anthony Stokes, yesterday and Roy Keane said one reason why the 18-year-old former Arsenal striker chose the Wearsiders over Celtic and Charlton Athletic was Sunderland's softly, softly approach. This contrasted with what Keane said amounted to pressure from other interested parties.

"I thought I'd missed out on him on Saturday night because I was told he wasn't coming to us," said Sunderland's manager. "But it's never over until the player has signed. We've agreed fees for players but, until the lad actually signs, you just never know. I got another phone call, had another chat, and things changed.

"It's very hard for a young player, especially when they're being put under a lot of pressure by certain people. People are always looking to criticise players for changing their minds, but managers do it every day of the week. Chairmen do it as well.

"I do believe the lad was put under extreme pressure by one or two people who should be having a good look at themselves now because, ultimately, I think that's one of the main reasons why he came to us. I'm not going to go into too many details but, right from the start, we told Anthony whatever decision he made, we would be wishing him well. We didn't threaten him and I think he appreciated that. We didn't put him under pressure. We didn't have medicals lined up for him and we didn't threaten him at all."

Stokes confirmed that view. "Roy (Keane) rang me and spoke to me about where he saw the club going and where he saw myself going. He has said he thinks this is a Premiership club and that the Premiership is where he wants to be. I want to play in the Premiership, so we are on the same lines there.

"But he never put any pressure on me and that's one of the things I liked about him and about Sunderland. It has been hectic. Everyone was on to me, saying: 'Can we get a signature? We need it as soon as possible', and things like that. It's what happens when people want to sign you I suppose. But Roy was very good. He rang me once and said 'take your time, take as long as you want'. I came back to him with the decision that I was happy and that I wanted to come here."

Sheffield United, having given up on signing Preston's David Nugent, have turned to Sunderland's Jon Stead and should complete a transfer in time for Stead to be available for the home game with Portsmouth on Saturday.

Sunderland paid £1.8 million for Stead when Mick McCarthy bought him from Blackburn Rovers 18 months ago and Keane will expect to recoup a large share of that fee for the 23-year-old striker who has been on loan to Derby County for the last three months. Another Sunderland forward, Chris Brown, moved yesterday to Norwich City for around £350,000.

Negotiations over a permanent move for the Sunderland midfielder Tommy Miller to Preston, where he has been on loan, are continuing.