Boro January loan target Kevin Doyle a player Wolves want to sell and Aitor Karanka also believed to be interested in left-back Stephen Ward
Wolves have entered the race to sign Lukas Jutkiewicz.
According to reports coming out of the West Midlands, Wanderers boss Kenny Jackett is in the market for a centre-forward and has set his sights on the Boro striker.
Bolton have made no secret of their desire to sign Jutkiewicz, but may struggle to match Boro’s valuation of a player they signed from Coventry for £1.3m in January 2012.
To spice things up, Boro’s January loan target Kevin Doyle is a player Wolves want to sell this summer and Aitor Karanka is also believed to be interested in the club’s out-of-favour left-back Stephen Ward.
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So there’s an outside possibility the clubs could arrange a player swap with Jutkiewicz moving to Molineux and Doyle or Ward travelling in the opposite direction to the Riverside.
Boro were one of several clubs chasing Doyle’s signature during the January transfer window but the Irish striker agreed a deal with QPR on deadline day.
Newly-promoted Rangers haven’t ruled out making a new bid for him ahead of the new season, though Doyle wasn’t especially prolific during an injury-affected stay at Loftus Road.
A complication from Boro’s point of view if they do decide to make a bid for the striker is the fact that he’s on a salary agreed when Wolves were a Premier League team and has a year remaining on his current deal.
Doyle, meanwhile, will now be able to jet off on his summer holidays after representing Ireland during their end of season tour.
He scored against England’s World Cup opponents Costa Rica in a 1-1 friendly draw in Philadelphia last week and was a second half sub as Martin O’Neill’s team were beaten 5-1 in New Jersey on Wednesday.
Asked about Doyle’s perceived dip in form over the last two seasons, O’Neill had some advice for the 30-year-old.
O’Neill said: “He has to ask himself what’s happened in the last couple of years - whether it’s sometimes you don’t score the goals and you feel that’s your major job.
“Then confidence is affected and you start dropping down a couple of divisions - relegation with Wolves a couple of times doesn’t help anybody.
“But he’s had a bit of rejuvenation going to QPR, helping them get into the Premier League and that’s where he’s got to try to get back to - to the player he was a couple of years ago.
“There shouldn’t be any reason for him not being able to do that if, in fact, it was confidence and confidence alone.
“Against Costa Rica I thought he did really fine for us - he chased the one down in the corner for us to eventually get the goal, and that was great for his confidence.
“I think Roy Keane had asked him beforehand when he’d actually last scored for Ireland and it was some time ago.
“So scoring is good for confidence anyway. I think, like most players especially if you’ve done something half decent in the big league, you want to get back to that.
“And he’ll have to help himself to do that.”
Ireland international Ward wasn’t selected for the trip to the USA.
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