It is a rare footballer who has stood toe to toe with Roy Keane the player and lived to tell the tale, but El-Hadji Diouf has been there, done it and is now wearing a Sunderland shirt. Just to demonstrate that there are no hard feelings, Keane has lured the Senegal forward to the Stadium of Light, recognising a kindred, argumentative and ferocious spirit.

It was a common criticism of Keane’s last season that his Sunderland side needed a “streetwise” streak, a frailty that the signings of Diouf, Pascal Chimbonda, Teemu Tainio and Steed Malbranque should address. When the Irishman talked about “making history” this summer this was

what he meant - less about block-buster transfers than attracting players with experience and spike to the North East.

In spells at Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers, Diouf proved a fiery character, who encountered disciplinary problems. He also earned the wrath of Keane, who was then still snarling in midfield for Manchester United. Many would have recoiled at the prospect of crossing swords with him again, but Diouf rejoiced. Notoriously, his new manager has a long memory, but he must also have been impressed.

“I am similar to Roy Keane because he used to be a bad loser as well,” Diouf, who has agreed a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee, said yesterday. “I played against him a number of times and he was always so hot on the pitch. I am like that. People used to boo Roy Keane wherever he went and now they do that to me. But people never boo a bad player.”

He recalls clashing with Keane “a lot of times”, notably during his two years playing for Liverpool. “I had words with him when we played in the final of the League Cup [in 2003] and we also had an argument in a league game at Liverpool when we lost 2-1,” Diouf said. “Everybody knows Roy Keane as a temperamental man and they know me like that as well.

“I always made sure I gave as good as I got. We talked about that quickly when we met. He’s not too old to forget that. That was a long time ago, though, and now everything to do with that is finished. He used to be one of the biggest players in the world and I want to learn something from him.”

Diouf, 27, said that he rejected advances from Paris Saint-Germain and Portsmouth after he had seen the “beautiful” training facilities on Wearside and the stadium. He believes that the club can avoid a relegation struggle in the forthcoming campaign. “I know what this club is capable of and, as long as the players believe in themselves this season, there’s no reason why we can’t finish in the top ten or the top eight,” he said. “If we do that, we will be looking to go even higher the following year.”

He notes similarities with Bolton, who went from being perennial Premier League survivors to qualifying for the Uefa Cup. “Everybody asked my family, ‘Why has he gone to Bolton?’ ” he said. “But we finished sixth in my first season and I knew that was what we were capable of. Sunderland are in the same position.

“I like a challenge. It’s a long time since Sunderland have played European football, but why should it not be possible? If Bolton can do it, why shouldn’t Sunderland? I want to get the club into Europe. I haven’t come here only to play in the Premier League. If you look at the new signings, people like Chimbonda and Malbranque, and the lads who have been doing well here for the last couple of years, I am confident we are going to do something special this season. We just need to believe in ourselves and work hard.”

Brad Friedel has denied a suggestion that a rift with Paul Ince, the new Blackburn Rovers manager, prompted him to leave Ewood Park for Aston Villa. The United States goalkeeper, 37, who joined Villa for £2.5 million last week, insisted that the package offered by the West Midlands club was too good for him to ignore. “It has nothing to do with Paul Ince coming in,” he said. “There was no animosity or frustration on my part. I would have made the same decision whether Mark Hughes was still the manager at Rovers or not.”