Wolves have rejected the chance to sign Kevin Doyle’s Reading striking team-mate Leroy Lita.
Boss Mick McCarthy invited the former England under-21 international for talks and he looked around the club’s Compton training ground.
But, like American defender Oguchi Onyewu, – who is set to join Fenerbahce – McCarthy has decided against offering the former Bristol City forward a deal because the player wanted to see what was on offer elsewhere first.
Having reached 24 and been freed from the Madejski Stadium, Lita is available on a free transfer.
McCarthy thought the offer of a chance to resurrect his career on a Premier League platform competing with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Chris Iwelumo, Sam Vokes and Andy Keogh would tempt Lita.
But Lita, who scored a hat-trick against Wolves on loan for Norwich in their 5-2 win over the Molineux men in October, decided to look at other options and he has now attracted the interest of Championship teams Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace.
Palace boss Neil Warnock said: “I did have a chat with his agent at the end of the season, but financially I don’t think we can get anywhere near him.”
Lita has a good record at Championship level having scored 61 goals in 128 League starts, plus a further 64 as substitute, although his rate has tailed off due to a lack of games.
McCarthy is, however, still very much in the hunt for Doyle, who is attracting interest from Sunderland as well as Fulham and Bolton.
The Wolves boss accepts that with a player of Doyle’s quality – not to mention the £6.5m investment required – the Republic of Ireland international wants to assess his options and take his time before making the right decision.
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