It was not exactly a request for a phone call from the Stadium of Light but Martin Jol last night did little to discourage Sunderland from getting in touch. The Hamburg coach is believed to be among the names under consideration at Sunderland following Roy Keane's resignation and his comments on the eve of tonight's Uefa Cup tie with Aston Villa suggested he has doubts about the level of ambition at his new club.

Asked about Sunderland's interest, Jol replied: "It depends on a few things because I want to go all the way here. One or two good players will make my team good and I will stay here for a couple of years but, if not, I would think about moving. There is not a lot of resources here so I have to develop young players, but I did that at Spurs. Hamburg is a big club and maybe only four or five in England are bigger. I am fine where I am now but who knows."

Jol, who will return to his home in England for Christmas and might even take in a game at White Hart Lane, has lifted Hamburg to fourth place in the Bundesliga since his appointment in the summer but he is aware of the limitations at the club and is resigned to losing the Croatian striker Ivica Olic to Bayern Munich.

He experienced similar frustration at Tottenham but claimed that the club's transfer policy had changed follow his dismissal 14 months ago. "Spurs have gone for the big stars since I have left which is the big difference," said Jol. "Stars like [Roman] Pavlyuchenko and [Luka] Modric. At the time I can remember that we played with Edgar Davids and had young players breakthrough like [Jermaine] ]\ and [Aaron] Lennon."