Sunderland midfielder Kieran Richardson is backing manager Roy Keane to continue buying big.
He told The Journal: "The gaffer brought some top-quality Premier League experience with Steed (Malbranque), Dioufy (El-Hadji Diouf), Djibril (Cisse) - with players like that around me you can only learn. The better the players the gaffer brings in, the better I become - hopefully he'll bring in Kaka next season.
"The new lads have been in the game longer than I have, so when they tell you things you take it in but they are good off the pitch too. They have made things even better around the changing room.
"It's healthy for everyone when you've got good players on the bench like Andy Reid and Yorkie (Dwight Yorke) who can change a game - recently we saw Chops (Michael Chopra) and Stokesy (Anthony Stokes) come on as substitutes and have a big impact on a game. But no one likes sitting on the bench and that's a good situation for the club. It keeps us on our toes and gets the best out of the players.
"I was never worried I would lose my place. If you start thinking like that it's the day you start slipping away into the background. I love challenges."
The new-found squad strength has changed the public perception of Sunderland, but not Richardson's.
"We've got some big names now which maybe wasn't the case when I first joined but Sunderland was always a massive club in my eyes," he said. "It's a sign we're going for bigger things - I'm sure we can do that. The main thing is everyone here believes we're a big club and top players who can go out and perform."