Saunders: Vultures will circle for Doyle if Wolves take drop

The vultures will be circling for Kevin Doyle this summer.

That’s the view of Dean Saunders, whose embattled Wolves require a miracle tomorrow if they are to stay in the Championship.

Ireland striker Doyle has, for some time, been watched with interest by Celtic, Everton and West Bromwich Albion and the Wolves boss anticipates he will be one of the club’s high-profile players to be targeted in the coming weeks and months.

“Agents and vultures will be looking at our players and thinking, ‘who can we pick out of there?’,” said Saunders.

“It happened last summer when they took all the best players out of Wolves after they were relegated from the Premier League. It will probably happen again if we don’t stay in the Championship. People will pick who they think are the best players and sometimes you won’t be able to do anything about it.

“Come Monday we will be a lot clearer as to what we are doing and start to look forward. If we are relegated, it is not the end of the world and we have to regroup.”

Doyle, 29, cost Wolves a then club record €7.6m from Reading in the summer of 2009. He still has two years left on a lucrative contract, but Wolves will not be able to sustain that kind of deal if they are relegated.

For Wolves to survive they have to beat Brighton and hope Barnsley lose at Huddersfield Town and Peterborough are beaten at Crystal Palace. There would also need to be a five-goal swing between Wolves and Peterborough.

Meanwhile, Doyle’s former Cork City team-mate Shane Long has been given the all-clear at West Brom as he nears the end of a season in which he has had to carefully manage a number of injuries.

“I don’t think Shane is injured at the moment,” said manager Steve Clarke.

“Shane is in a good place. I think his performance last week was top. Players now, you have to manage, you have to look after them all the time. It is a long physical season and there will be knocks.”

With a series of friendlies and a World Cup qualifier against the Faroe Islands looming, Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni will be grateful for Long’s clean bill of health, but concerned to learn that Ciaran Clark misses Aston Villa’s game against relegation rivals Norwich tomorrow.

Clark has been struck by a new injury setback, having only recently recovered from the shoulder problem he suffered in the World Cup qualifier against Austria.

Villa manager Paul Lambert said: “He damaged the bottom of his foot in training and will again be out of action at Norwich.”

The injury ruled Clark out of Monday’s 6-1 win against Sunderland and he could now be facing a battle to play again this season.

Meanwhile, Clark’s team-mate Stephen Ireland is set to have talks on his future at Villa Park at the end of the season.

Former international Ireland, who still has a year left on his contract at the club, has not figured since the 2-1 Capital One Cup defeat against Bradford City on January 22.

Lambert said: “You can only select 18 lads. That is football all over. Stephen has been fine and he has been training well, but I can only pick 18.”