The Irishman could have been forgiven for thinking he had all but landed the Morocco-born Frenchman when he indicated his intention to head for Wearside on Friday to undergo a medical and discuss personal terms.

However, Villa are understood to have registered their interest after a week of speculation since the Black Cats tabled their joint bid for Kaboul, Teemu Tainio, Pascal Chimbonda and Steed Malbranque.

The former Auxerre man has now asked for another 24 hours to consider his future, and Keane will have to wait to see whether or not Martin O'Neill gets the chance to sell his own vision to the player.

Today's development should perhaps come as no surprise - Kaboul's agent Rudy Raba insisted a week ago that there was no chance of his client moving to Sunderland, even in the event of an earthquake, while Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp revealed his own hopes of signing the defender looked likely to be dashed by Villa.

However, Raba quickly backtracked on his initial response after the Spurs man travelled to the north-east to hold talks with Keane last Saturday, and emerged impressed by what he had heard.

To date, only Tainio of the White Hart Lane four has signed for the Black Cats, the 28-year-old Finnish midfielder penning a three-year deal earlier this week.

Chimbonda is expected to follow within days after responding warmly to Keane's offer of employment, although there has been no word publicly from the Malbranque camp.

But Keane will hope his powers of persuasion could yet do the trick with Kaboul as he attempts to push through a quadruple swoop which would cost his club a total of around £16million in transfer fees.