The Bluebirds are preparing a swoop the moment they get any encouragement from the Stadium of Light.

But it remains far from certain Chopra would be allowed to leave Sunderland, even if the manager does bring in one or two quality frontmen.

With Kenwyne Jones expected to be sidelined for months with knee ligament damage, Sunderland are looking thin on the ground at the moment for striking options with only Chopra, Daryl Murphy, Anthony Stokes and Roy O'Donovan to call on.

And the future of Chopra's fellow strikers could also be open to scrutiny as the summer progresses - especially with Stokes being said to have already been offered as a makeweight in at least one deal.

What is certain though is that Cardiff City would be first in the queue if their former star player was allowed to leave.

City boss Dave Jones made a cheeky bid to take his ex-player back on loan to Ninian Park, just five months after selling him to Sunderland for £5million.

City would offer more than £2million for Chopra but that would be half the price of the 24-year-old a year ago.

And with six goals under his belt in his debut Premier League season and the promise of more to come next time round, Keane would be unlikely to sell at that cost anyway.

Chopra had a demanding first full season in the Premier League.

He did not prove prolific but the six goals he scored tended to be key goals.

And he would point to the fact that he spent much of his season deployed on the right wing whenever Sunderland went for a 4-5-1 formation.

Certainly Keane believes that Chopra has the potential to build on the foundations he put down last year.

He said: "Whenever you're going into a game, you're looking around and you're thinking about who might get you a goal and it's usually Chopra who comes out top of your list."