Doyle ponders €8.3m Wolves move

KEVIN DOYLE is considering a £7m (€8.3m) move to Wolverhampton Wanderers after holding talks with the newly-promoted Premier League club last weekend.

The Reading striker was shown around the midlands club’s training complex by manager, Mick McCarthy, and will now assess his options.

The Republic of Ireland international is keen to return to the top flight but may delay a final decision to allow other potential suitors to express an interest in signing him.

Either way, Reading, still smarting from their play-off semi-final defeat to Burnley last month, are resigned to losing Doyle.

The 25-year-old only signed a new three-year contract last November but the deal was penned on the understanding that the Championship club would not stand in his way if they failed to win promotion and a Premier League club tabled a bid worth at least £6.5m (€7.7m).

Both of those criteria have now been met after Wolves tabled a formal offer, although the fact that the Molineux club are the only ones to have done so is an indication of Doyle’s diminished status in the eyes of many English clubs.

He scored just two goals after December 20, a dire sequence which has deterred more high-profile suitors from pursuing him.

Aston Villa made enquiries over a possible £5m (€5.9m) move last July but their interest has now waned, while Everton – another interested party last summer – have switched their attentions to Doyle’s team-mate at the Madejski stadium, Stephen Hunt.

McCarthy, however, has not been deterred by Doyle’s poor run of form and, having already signed goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann from Reading, now wants to make him Wolves’ club-record signing.