Sunderland signed off for the season with an entertaining 1-0 defeat at home to Arsenal yesterday.

Keane is now intent on a summer of rebuilding which he hopes will ward off any relegation battle next season – although he does intend to take a little "chill" time before that process begins.

"I want to step back a little this summer," said the Irishman.

"I wasted a lot of time and energy last time around.

"It was very tough for us last summer and we have to expect it to be the same this time too.

"But this time I have to identify the players and just let the chairman and chief executive do their bit.

"I can't really get away from everything because I've got young children and responsibilities but I want to try and switch off for a while.

"I'm due a meeting with (chairman) Niall Quinn and (chief executive) Peter Walker (today), so we'll have a better idea of what we have and how many players we can afford to buy.

"But everyone's chasing quality players and I think it's going to get harder for all of us.

"The Arsenal manager is in the same boat as me – there's not a lot of quality players available.

"The way things are, we know we want players to improve the team – they don't have to be world superstars – just better than what we've got.

"We are 15th in the table and I think that's about right.

"We probably are the 15th best team – that's why I always felt deep down we would be fine – but you still need the points on the board.

"As long as we improve on 15th next season, then that would be something.

"We're told teams that stay up in the first year can struggle in the second so we're taking nothing for granted.

"We have big challenges ahead but we have to look to improve the squad – we are close to the teams above us but not close enough yet."

Sunderland's defeat was their 21st in 38 games this term – a vast improvement on the last two top-flight seasons (29 in 2005/06 and 27 in 2002/03).

But only relegated Derby and Reading lost more matches, while only the dismal Rams scored fewer goals than the Wearsiders' total of 36.