Sunderland turned down a bid from Cardiff to re-sign Michael Chopra, it has been revealed.

After Chopra scored the winner for Sunderland against Aston Villa yesterday, manager Roy Keane confirmed that the Bluebirds had wanted to take their former striker back on loan, but he turned them down out of hand.

Keane said: "How close was Chopra to going back to Cardiff? I can tell you it wasn't speculation. I admire Dave Jones for chancing his arm.

"Dave fancied his chances of getting Michael back. There is nothing wrong with that. David got a very polite no from me - just like he was very helpful to me when I was trying to buy Chopra last summer.

"We know if we create chances, Michael will score. There is no doubt about that but obviously we've not been creating enough and in defence of him, I've been playing him out of position at wide right.

"Maybe the criticism against Michael has been slightly unfair but everyone, myself and the staff, are delighted with him."