Albion stay ahead in the race for Scott Carson today despite manager Tony Mowbray staying tight-lipped about the potential deal.

The Baggies retain the upper hand over Stoke in the battle to sign the England goalkeeper from Liverpool.

Crucially, morning reports of potential bids from Middlesbrough and Blackburn were played down today by sources at the respective clubs.

Carson has held several round of talks with Baggies officials but Mowbray is reluctant to discuss the negotiations.

He said: “I will go down the road of saying ‘let’s wait and see’

“Nothing has been done or agreed. There has been a conversation but I had probably be better leaving it at that, because it is just as likely to come to nothing as to come to something.

“We might never hear anything else about it or there might be an announcement.

“That’s how these things go. You can either move things along very quickly or it can come to a dead stop very quickly.”

“If it comes to a dead stop, we would probably not hear anything else.”

Middlesbrough have been rumoured as a possible rival for the Cumbria-born keeper but manager Gareth Southgate has insisted repeatedly that he is happy with Brad Jones and Ross Turnbull.

Sources at Blackburn indicate Tottenham’s Paul Robinson is a more likely target for manager Paul Ince.

Mowbray was even more brief on the subject of Ivory Coast international Abdoulaye Meite, who is certain to leave the Reebok Stadium this summer.

Albion have had one bid of £1m-plus rejected by the Trotters and it is unclear whether they will up their offer.

The manager remains confident that more new faces are on their way into The Hawthorns.

He said: “I hope there is more happening but I have left people back home to get on with things.

“The message to supporters is that we are trying the strengthen certain areas of the team and get competition in the team.

“We’re not sitting around doing nothing. There is work behind the scenes and these things take time.

“Hopefully we can get a few things sorted out in the next week or two.”