Chopra completed a £5m move from the Bluebirds to the Stadium Of Light last summer, but had failed to score from open play for seven months before his winner at Aston Villa on Saturday.

Cardiff manager Dave Jones wanted to take the former Newcastle player back to the FA Cup semi-finalists to bolster their outside promotion hopes.

But Keane has knocked back their interest and believes Chopra can deliver goal-power for the Black Cats - if he is given the right sort of service.

Keane said: "How close was Chopra to going back to Cardiff? I can tell you it wasn't speculation. I get phone calls about lots of my players - but Michael is going nowhere.

"I admire Dave Jones for chancing his arm. He fancied his chances of getting Michael back.

"There is nothing wrong with that. David got a very polite 'no' from me - just like he was very helpful to me when I was trying to buy Chopra last summer."

Chopra took advantage of hesitancy between Villa central defender Zat Knight and goalkeeper Scott Carson to grab his fourth goal of the campaign with seven minutes to go against Martin O'Neill's side.

Apart from a penalty at Reading, it was his first goal since being on target in the 2-2 draw with Birmingham at St Andrews in the second game of the season.

It was a great response from Chopra after he was left out of the 16 beaten 1-0 at home by Chelsea the previous weekend.

"We know if we create chances, Michael will score," Keane said.

"There is no doubt about that, but obviously we've not been creating enough, and in defence of him, I've been playing him out of position, wide right.

"Maybe the criticism against Michael has been slightly unfair but everyone, myself and the staff, are delighted with him."

Chopra's cool strike earned Sunderland their first away win of the season and lifted them four points clear of the bottom three.

Keane, though, is taking nothing for granted, but believes Sunderland have been performing better than their record suggests.

He added: "It is easy to stay level-headed. We've won one away game. If that is something to get carried away with, then we are all in trouble.

"We've got a decent group. It has been far from doom and gloom.

"I can tell you about seven or eight games where we've done enough to win the game but one mistake costs you and you don't get over the finishing line.

"We felt the win was coming. I never go into a game fearful of what might be. I've got great belief in the players, because we work with them every day.

"They are a good strong unit. There is no problem with the players and they are all focused.

"Remember, I left out three or four lads last week, including Michael, and they've all come back in and contributed."