Contented Doyle shrugs off transfer talk

REPUBLIC of Ireland international Kevin Doyle has downplayed reports he is set to leave Wolves at the end of the season.

Arsenal, Aston Villa, Everton and Fulham have been linked with the Wexford man, who insists he is happy under Mick McCarthy at Molineux.

He said last night: “All of this (transfer) talk doesn’t impact on me in any way these days. I had a similar situation at Reading where every week I’d be linked with some other club, but you get used to it.

“When I was younger you’d be excited of course, who wouldn’t? But I’m happy here at Wolves and have been since the first minute I ran out for the side.”

Wolves may have secured Premiership survival this season but they’ve scored less than any other side in the top flight. Doyle who has hit the net seven times, isn’t worried by the statistic.

“People often talk about how little we’ve scored but that’s not the fullpicture,” said Doyle. “We play a system of 4-5-1 so it’s always going to be more difficult but huge credit has to go to our defenders too. Also it’s not all about hard work.

“I could send my mother out and tell her to work hard, you need quality here and there and we had that this season,” he added.

With McCarthy confirming he will introduce some new faces to Molineux this summer, Doyle admits the possible arrival of international colleague Robbie Keane would be a massive shot in the arm for the side.

He said: “I like playing alongside good players and Robbie is undoubtedly one of them. He would be good for the club that’s for sure but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

There’s also a possibility that Doyle and former club mate Stephen Hunt could be reunited following Hull City’s relegation to the Championship.

“Yeah we made a bid for him (Hunt) in January but Hull weren’t willing to let him go, I’m sure the club (Wolves) will look at that again as he’d be another excellent player for us,” said Doyle.

While most of his Ireland colleagues must endure watching the World Cup on television, Doyle will have more important things on his mind. He marries Jennifer Harney, also from Wexford, on June 11, the day the tournament begins in South Africa.

“Well I’ll be on honeymoon for most of it so hopefully I’ll catch the semi-finals and final at least,” said Doyle.

Doyle has been included in the “second part” of Giovanni Trapattoni’s training squad which meet up in Malahide later this month and is likely to feature in the friendlies against Paraguay and Algeria.

After the summer lay-off, of course the Wolves man’s attentions will turn to the European Championship qualifiers, which kick off in Armenia on September 3.

“I think the group is reasonably okay,” said Doyle. “It’s a lot fairer than the group we had to put up with for the World Cup qualifiers. We’ll be positive and confident going into that campaign and hopefully we get what we deserve and qualify.”

Doyle is keeping his fingers cross that goalkeeper Shay Given makes a speedy recovery from a serious shoulder injury sustained against Arsenal last month.

“There are different kinds of dislocated shoulder injuries and I’m not sure how bad Shay’s is. He’ll have four months or so now to recuperate and hopefully by the end of the summer he’ll be okay again.”