Jones is best in Prem, boasts Keane.
By: FOXSports.[/size]
Sunderland boss Roy Keane has hailed Kenwyne Jones as the best striker in the Premier League - and reckons the 23-year-old is worth £40million.
The Trinidad and Tobago frontman has made a nonsense of his £6million price tag, which raised a few eyebrows when Keane handed over the cheque to Southampton in August.
Jones demonstrated his prowess once again last weekend when he took England international defender Sol Campbell apart to pave the way for Kieran Richardson to shoot down Portsmouth.
Keane always felt he had paid a more than reasonable price for the towering hitman, but insists that if other Premier League strikers are being spoken of in the £20million bracket, his investment was a huge bargain.
He said: "I have said before, there is no doubt we have got the best striker in the Premier League at the moment in Kenwyne, no doubt about it.
"If they are on about certain strikers being worth £20million, then Kenwyne is worth £40million, without a doubt.
"I wouldn't swap him for any of them."
Jones will be in good company on Saturday when he leads the line at Tottenham, who have in-form strikers of their own in the shape of Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane.
But while Juande Ramos' front two began the season with their reputations firmly established, Jones has been something of a surprise package, even for the man who took him to Wearside.
Asked how satisfying it was to see his summer signing blossoming in the top flight, Keane said with a smile: "I was going to get one right, wasn't I?
"By the law of averages, you are going to get one right out of 15 or 20.
"Every time a player comes to a club, no matter how much you have looked at him, you just never know how they are going to react.
"He has really surprised us. We knew he was a talented lad, but he has knuckled down.
"Even last week, he was clearly not 100% fit, but he is doing a great job for the team.
"Ultimately all these top players in the world we talk about going back over the years are also big team players.
"Kenwyne has done really well for us, I have to say."
Sunderland head for Spurs - the side against which they opened their campaign with a 1-0 victory to spark fresh optimism for the season - languishing in the bottom three despite last weekend's win over Pompey.
They do so with their injury problems having struck once again with winger Ross Wallace ruled out for the season by a knee injury, defender Danny Higginbotham facing surgery to pin a broken toe and midfielder Grant Leadbitter sidelined for up to three weeks with a similar, but less serious, fracture.
