SAM ALLARDYCE insists Jermain Defoe is not for sale this month, and is delighted to have made a successful start to this month’s transfer window with the capture of Jan Kirchhoff.

Kirchhoff trained with Sunderland’s squad yesterday after completing a €1m switch from German champions Bayern Munich, and while Allardyce’s attempts to sign Lorient defender Lamine Kone collapsed when negotiations over personal terms broke down, the Black Cats boss is still satisfied with this week’s transfer developments.

He remains keen to add another two or three players to the ranks before the transfer window closes, but is adamant he will not be sanctioning Defoe’s departure in order to increase his spending power.

Defoe’s future was questioned when he was left out of the starting line-up at the start of last month, with Bournemouth one of a number of Premier League clubs to have inquired about his availability.

Since then though, the striker has returned to the side and scored a crucial double in last weekend’s 3-1 win over Aston Villa, and rather than look to sell the 33-year-old, Allardyce is keen to build the second half of Sunderland’s season around him.

“We haven’t had any bids for Jermain, and I suppose if there had been a bid for him, I would have turned it down,” said the Black Cats boss. “Unless it had been that big a bid that the owners told me, ‘This bid is so big Sam, we can’t afford to turn it down’. Every club has that scenario, but we haven’t had a bid for Jermain and we don’t want to sell him.

“There’s always been a belief that maybe he can’t play up there on his own, but he’s played on his own a couple of times now and I’m more than willing to continue down that line.

“If Jermain came to me and said, ‘It’s really not working for me up there on my own – you’ve got to stick someone up there with me’, that would be the only time I would consider not doing it.

“If he can carry on and continue being as good as he was last weekend, and certainly be as clinical as he was, then long may it last.”

Defoe is one of a number of players set to be rested when Sunderland travel to Arsenal for tomorrow’s FA Cup third-round tie, and having moved to Wearside from Toronto FC last January, the former England international has consistently claimed to have no desire to change clubs again this month.

He signed a three-and-a-half year deal when he returned to England, and is hoping Allardyce’s comments ensure there will be no more speculation about his future.

“Of course I’m committed,” said Defoe. “I’m at the age of 33 now, and over the years I’ve been involved in lots of (transfer) things, but to be fair, I’ve not seen my name about this time.

“That is nice. Normally over the years at previous clubs, the window opened and people talked about players and moves, and I was there thinking, ‘I know nothing about this’.”

There will be some departures this month, with Danny Graham, Will Buckley and potentially Jordi Gomez available to anyone who wants them, but Allardyce’s main priority at the moment is the successful addition of the three or four players he feels could transform Sunderland’s season.

The first deal is done, with Kirchhoff having successfully completed a medical and agreed the personal terms of an 18-month deal.

The German will be available for next week’s Premier League double-header with Swansea and Tottenham, but Kone will not be joining him on Wearside after talks collapsed.

“The Kone deal has broken down,” confirmed Allardyce. “It’s nothing to do with a medical or anything like that, the negotiations just broke down and it didn’t happen.”

Lorient are clearly unhappy at the way in which discussions were handled, with their vice-president, Alex Hayes, criticising Sunderland’s conduct over the course of the last week.

“It’s quite outrageous,” said Hayes. “We gave Sunderland our consent last Tuesday, Lamine left the next day to have contract talks, but the player warned us there were problems in negotiating his contract.

“Because of the holidays, it dragged out until Monday. They tried to change the pre-agreed deal. Lamine called to ask if he could return to Lorient and I told him with great pleasure.

“It’s quite outrageous on the part of Sunderland, who meanwhile have negotiated with a Bayern player.”

Allardyce claims he never asked Ellis Short whether it was a case of signing either Kirchhoff or Kone, and while he never expected the January window to be an easy environment in which to operate, he is happy to have successfully completed one deal so early in the month.

“I’ve worked in this month for many years now, and it’s never easy to do business,” he said. “I’ve been more successful at some times than others, but at least with Jan, we’ve got one in early.

“That’s rarely happened for me in the past. It’s generally been the other end of Januay because many things have to drop into place to make a signing. But we’ve done a lot of negotiations in December so we know where we stand.”