Wolves chairman Steve Morgan today warned clubs to ‘get real’ if they are to agree deals for Mick McCarthy’s targets.

McCarthy’s main priorities in the transfer market are Birmingham defender Roger Johnson and Reading stopper Matt Mills and Morgan hinted he may have to smash the club’s £7m transfer record – set last year for Steven Fletcher – to land the Blues man.

But Wolves have so far been unable to agree fees for the pair, with Blues understood to have come down from £14m to £10m for Johnson and the Royals unwilling to accept £3m for Mills.

Morgan understands clubs wanting ‘top dollar’ for their star players, but believes they are asking too much at the moment.

“I think that’s inevitable that clubs might have to come down on their demands,” he said.

“If clubs feel there’s a lot of interest in their players, they’re trying to do their best and trying to get the income for their club and no-one can blame them for that. But we also need a dose of reality and we can’t keep busting transfer records because there’s only a certain amount of money to go around.

“As always, at this stage, prices start really high, and offers start a lot lower, and usually, at some point in time, they meet.”

Morgan added: “I’d prefer not to break the transfer record for obvious reasons.

“But we’ve got to do what we need to do to get the right players.

“Sometimes paying the highest money doesn’t necessarily get you the right players and there are one or two high-profile example of that. It’s important we get the right players for Wolves.

“Conversations have been had with other clubs about players and figures have been mentioned.

“As usual it’s ‘cat and mouse’ at this stage of the summer.”