Potters manager Tony Pulis has identified the Hungarian international as his key signing of the summer.

And he has made a swift move to secure the 25-year-old, submitting an offer believed to be in the region of £2million.

But Roy Keane rates the 6ft 5ins stopper highly and although he is largely resigned to the keeper leaving, he will want the best price for a keeper who he would love to keep at the Stadium of Light.

Leicester City had a failed bid for Fulop turned down in the January transfer window - Roy Keane dismissive of the £1million offered for the keeper's services.

Stoke are believed to have offered around twice that sum but Sunderland will be in no rush to accept the first approach.

Fulop moved to Wearside in January 2007 with fellow keeper Ben Alnwick heading in the opposite direction - the Hungarian valued at £500,000.
But Keane has been delighted with the promise and application shown by the young European.

Fulop was an able deputy to Darren Ward in the Championship promotion season and before the signing of Craig Gordon, Roy Keane said Ward and Fulop would go into the Premier League season on level pegging.

Keane would prefer Fulop to be Sunderland's long-term deputy for Gordon and rates him as a Premier League standard keeper.

But he understands that Fulop has to play first-team football if he is to safeguard his status as Hungarian number one.

The Hungary manager has made clear that Fulop must be playing first-team football regularly if he is to remain his country's first-choice keeper.

Roy Keane allowed him to spend the first half of the season on loan at Leicester City, where he quickly became a crowd favourite.

There was huge disappointment among fans at the Walkers Stadium when his transfer could not be pushed through - City going on to be relegated, ironically, after signing Alnwick in Fulop's place.

Fulop was allowed to go on loan to Stoke City but that arrangement lasted only five days - the keeper being recalled after only five days when Darren Ward suffered a back strain.

The Hungarian played in Sunderland's final game of the season and distinguished himself in the 1-0 defeat by Arsenal.

But he has made it clear several times over the course of the season that he wants to be playing first-team football in the next campaign - something Sunderland cannot guarantee him, with the presence of Craig Gordon, Britain's most expensive goalkeeper in the squad.

Fulop would welcome a move to Stoke City which would guarantee him the first-team football he desires at Premier League level.

Pulis is a big admirer, and despite being linked to former Black Cats keeper Thomas Sorensen, has his sights set on Fulop.

The manager sees him as a key signing in a season when he knows his defence will come under the most intense scrutiny.

But Sunderland have yet to make a decision on whether Fulop will be allowed a swift exit, to join former team-mates Liam Lawrence and Rory Delap at the Britannia Stadium.