Sam Vokes set to fetch £500k for Wolves in move

Sam Vokes could be set to ease Wolves' logjam of strikers with a £500,000 move to a rival Championship club.

The 22-year-old striker is the subject of long-standing interest from Burnley and an un-named second tier club – and the pair look like battling it out for his signature over the next few days.

Vokes is well known to Burnley and Brighton, having had loan spells at Turf Moor and the Amex Stadium last term, scoring twice in nine games for the Clarets before notching three in 14 appearances for the Seagulls.

The Wales international has travelled to Ireland as part of Stale Solbakken's 26-man squad, but he is one of 11 professional strikers on Wolves' books with today's £2.4m arrival of Bjorn Bergmann Sigurdarson.

And the club is eager to trim the numbers following the signing of Sigurdarson, and with defender Vadim Demidov set to complete a near £1m switch from Real Sociedad today.

Leigh Griffiths looks like departing Molineux after he was left out of the touring party.

But Wolves still have Steven Fletcher, Kevin Doyle, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Sigurdarson, Frank Nouble and Vokes, as well as development squad players Jake Cassidy, Sam Winnall, Jake Kempton and Liam McAlinden. If Vokes leaves, Wolves are confident of getting almost double the

£300,000 they paid Bournemouth in June 2008, despite the target man having made just four League starts in four years at Molineux, his last appearance being a rare start in the 5-2 Carling Cup defeat to Manchester City last October.

Meanwhile, former Wolves boss Mick McCarthy's chances of a return to management with Nottingham Forest were dashed yesterday after he pulled out of the running to replace Steve Cotterill.

The 53-year-old spoke to Forest's new Kuwaiti owners at length and was excited about the challenge, cutting short a holiday in Portugal to have face-to-face discussions yesterday.

But it is understood he was suspicious about the amount of control he would have and decided to withdraw from the race.

See also:

• Defender Vadim Demidov on way to Wolves

• Jody Craddock deserves Wolves testimonial, says Cameron

• Jody Craddock’s?Wolves future in doubt