According to the Daily Mail, Roy Keane is ready to return to his former club in an effort to solve his forward line crisis.

Reports out of the north west claim the Barclays Premier League champions are willing to let French international Saha go on a pay-as-you-play deal.

The Sunderland boss has recently been linked with moves for Tottenham's Darren Bent and Everton's Andy Johnson as he looks to add more firepower to his Stadium of Light squad.

A forward acquisition was made even pressing following the knee ligament injury to star striker Kenwyne Jones while on international duty for Trinidad and Tobago last month.

Roma were reported to be interested in signing 29-year-old Saha on loan, followed by a possible free transfer, but baulked when informed they would have to pay a set fee after a certain amount of appearances.

His former club Fulham were also said to be keen but dropped out of the running when told of the financial implications of signing a player currently on £70,000-a-week.

Sir Alex Ferguson wants to offload Saha as he continues his pursuit of Tottenham's Dimitar Berbatov.

Saha, who had a spell on loan at Newcastle back in 1999, cost United £12.8m when he moved from Craven Cottage in 2004.

But his Old Trafford career has been dogged by injuries and he has only made 86 appearances for the champions, scoring 28 goals in the process.