Wolves eye McLean move

Wolves have stepped up their efforts to sign Peterborough striker Aaron McLean – as they prepare to admit defeat in their pursuit of Burnley forward Kyle Lafferty.

Posh have admitted they had turned down a £1m bid from Wolves for McLean, who scored 33 goals in their League Two promotion push last season.

Lafferty is expected to join Rangers, who have topped Wolves' £2.5m player exchange offer with a £3m cash deal, with a player and lucrative friendly thrown in.

That is believed to signal the end on any increase on their bid for Lafferty.

Wolves are instead expected to return with an improved offer this week for 25-year-old McLean, who is a former Grays team-mate of Michael Kightly.

Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson, a former Wolves midfielder, said: "Wolves have made a bid, but we dismissed it out of hand.

"For a start it was nowhere near enough, but we are not interested in selling any of our better players and we have no need to anyway.

"There has been a lot of speculation about Aaron, but this is the only offer we have had.

"Aaron is fully aware of what's going on and he's happy with the way we've dealt with things.

"Wolves may come back to us, but I seriously doubt they could tempt us to sell."

Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey said: "Aaron is one of a number of players we are looking at at the moment."

McLean has been a huge hit since his £150,000 move from Grays in January 2007.

After hitting four goals in nine games on loan for Posh, the Hammersmith-born striker scored 32 in 52 League matches, 29 of which came last season.

Previously, the 5ft 8ins striker scored 23 in 42 for Grays, eight in 49 for Aldershot and two in five starts for his first club Leyton Orient.

Any arrival of McLean would leave boss Mick McCarthy with a logjam of strikers.

Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Andy Keogh and Stephen Ward also vying for places, with transfer-listed pair Freddy Eastwood and Jay Bothroyd still on the staff.

McLean is believed to be one of up to six new signings planned by McCarthy this summer, with at least one central defender and Derby midfielder David Jones among them.