Elliot was 'pinched'!! - says Keegan

Elliott became a free agent and opted to join the Black Cats, who were then legally-bound to a tribunal set fee because he was under the age of 23.

A fee of £375,000 was set for the 20-year-old, who has scored nine goals already this season and made his senior Irish debut against Croatia last week.

But Keegan still feels that the amount was too meager – despite City’s failure to tie the young Dubliner to a new contract before his previous one at Eastlands expired.

The former England boss said: “We felt that he was pinched from us. Stephen is now starting to achieve the sort of things that we expected him to achieve.

“We saw with Stephen how clubs can get interested in the young players. We told the tribunal when we questioned his transfer fee that he was a good player and that we had worked hard with him.”

Meanwhile, Man City do have one young Irishman who looks set to make the grade:
Irish under-21 international defender Paddy McCarthy is ready to take his chance for the Manchester City first team – but must still wait for the opportunity to stake his claim, Sky Blues manager Kevin Keegan has said.

Despite being included in several first team squads, McCarthy has yet to make his senior debut for the club – particularly frustrating given that several of the club’s youngsters, including Stephen Jordan and fellow Irish pair Willo Flood and Stephen Elliott (who has since moved on to Sunderland) have been given their first-team debuts over the past 12 months.

But Keegan feels that McCarthy’s unmatched maturity will see him do a successful job for the team – should anything untoward befall the regular central defensive pairing of Sylvain Distin and Irish international Richard Dunne.

Said Keegan: “Paddy is very much a part of it. He has doing nothing wrong – in fact he’s doing everything right. But he’s got to get past Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin and that’s not easy.

“I think of all the youngsters we have got here, he is probably the most mature in terms of being ready for it. But his opportunity hasn’t come yet.

"We want to keep our good youngsters here. Paddy has been showing signs for a year now, even though he has not made his debut. He will get his opportunity.”