Claudio Ranieri boarded the Juventus team bus predicting that Sunderland "might surprise the Premiership", but Roy Keane insists that his evolving squad is still at least two signings from completion.
Having identified a goalkeeper and a centre-forward as his priority acquisitions, Sunderland's manager is in negotiations to sign Craig Gordon from Hearts for £9m - the Scotland goalkeeper is also coveted by Aston Villa - and Mido, the Egypt striker, from Tottenham for £6m.
"I hope to have news [of signings] in the next 24 to 48 hours," said Keane. "I'm trying very hard to bring in new players and Mido is one I'd love to get into the club."
The son of one of Cairo's richest men and a character whose disdain for hard graft and dietsheets undermined his undoubted talent at Roma and, more recently, Spurs, Mido is nevertheless precisely the sort of powerful and clever striker Sunderland currently lack.
Indeed, a shortage of physical presence and defender-disorientating nous in the penalty area largely explains why they did not beat Ranieri's men. Although Juventus's exquisitely gifted Pavel Nedved was, by some distance, the best individual on view, Keane's lesser-known players held their own in a free-flowing contest.
"Sunderland try to play, to pass well," enthused Ranieri, whose last visit here was as manager of Chelsea. He must have been quietly relieved that the positionally aware but worryingly lightweight Michael Chopra, Keane's £5m buy from Cardiff, had no one to play off.
"Mido's a player I've been aware of for some time," said Keane, for whom one fall-back option is rumoured to be his one-time Manchester United team-mate Andy Cole. "I think we could provide Mido with a challenge and he would provide the other strikers here with a challenge."
Moreover, at the end of a summer in which Keane has invested £16m on six players who, with the possible exception of Kieran Richardson, are hardly household names, the maverick Egyptian might just be the player to capture the crowd's imagination.
Should the Mido deal fall through, Sunderland fans would regard Cole as an unwanted alternative: the former Newcastle United striker's best days are evidently well behind him. That said, the wonderfully quirky Keane - who saw Daryl Murphy give his side an early lead before Cristiano Molinaro claimed a late equaliser - could always spring a surprise and reinvent Cole as a holding midfielder à la Dwight Yorke, who now patrols just in front of Sunderland's defence.
Although Marton Fulop made two stellar saves - first from a Nedved free-kick, then a stunning reflex stop to deny David Trezeguet - Keane is hoping to have his backline choreographed by Gordon in time for Saturday's kick-off against Totenham here. "Marton was class and made an unbelievable save but I'm interested in any player who will improve Sunderland whether it be a goalkeeper or a striker," said Keane. "If you are at a big club, and I think Sunderland is a big club, you have to accept challenges for your position."
And that includes the manager's role. "There are question marks over me, my coaching staff, over the players," admitted Keane. "No one knows how we'll do in the Premiership." Not that he will be satisfied with merely staying up. "I'm confident we'll have a team to compete. Some of these footballers here are underrated and they're not going to be starstruck. They've had to fight hard to get where they are now and my job is to get them up to the next level."
Spurs should prove a useful litmus test. "Tottenham are a good footballing side and I'm excited," said Keane. "I'm thinking: bring the Premiership on."