Ricky Sbragia, the Sunderland manager, has insisted he has no intention of allowing El-Hadji Diouf to leave the club. Sam Allardyce, now in charge at Blackburn Rovers, worked with the Senegal international during his time at Bolton Wanderers and has been linked with a £2million move for the striker.

Diouf's recent comments have sent out mixed messages over his future, but Sbragia revealed he has spoken to the player and is intent on holding on to him. "He seems happy - they all seem happy if they are playing football, that's the important thing about it," Sbragia said. "He played on Saturday and he was excellent. That's what I knew he could do [from his time] at Bolton. He set himself a standard and he has to keep to that standard."

Sbragia has admitted there will be departures from the Stadium of Light following his predecessor Roy Keane's £70m-plus spending spree, but has dismissed rumours linking Michael Chopra with a return to former club Cardiff City, where he recently spent two successful months on loan.

"Chopra will not be moving at all," he said. "I need four strikers and he is going to be one of the four. The front two, Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cisse, have done extremely well, but I need back-up as well - and I will change the team around, I know that.

"The good thing about Chopra is he can play wide right, wide left and up front. There has been a lot of speculation, but I can't afford to lose my better players."

Another striker who is unlikely to leave is David Healy, the Northern Ireland international, despite interest from Rangers. "It is just speculation," Sbragia said. "I have had no contact with Rangers at all. I spoke to David about three weeks ago and he is definitely part of the plan. He has been excellent, his attitude has been fantastic and we need strikers. If we have a problem with the front two regarding injury, we have two strikers who can go in and take their place."