KEVIN DOYLE remained on course yesterday to be the next Republic of Ireland international to move clubs during the close season as the Reading striker held talks with Fulham about a possible move to Craven Cottage.
The 25-year-old looks set to move over the coming days with the Londoners and Mick McCarthy’s Wolves now appearing to be the clear front-runners to land the striker’s services.
Reading are resigned to losing the player who has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave for a fee of €7.5 million although it is not clear that they will get even that for him having failed to win promotion back to the top flight.
Ultimately his choice of destination may come down to the personal terms on offer but there will be other factors to be considered.
Fulham, who were transformed last season under Roy Hodgson from relegation battlers into a top- half-of-the-table side, offer the Irishman prospects of Europa League football after they qualified thanks to their seventh place finish back in May.
There would also be the chance to work with Hodgson who has, not least during the last 12 months at Craven Cottage, shown a consistent ability to bring on players and get the best out of them.
McCarthy, though, is believed to be extremely keen on landing the Wexfordman and the midlands club is reported to have made its pitch to Doyle and his representatives on Monday.
On the face of it, Wolves would seem the more likely of the two to struggle in the top flight next season but Steve Staunton, who has been doing some scouting work for McCarthy in recent months and who handed Doyle his first senior international cap, against Sweden in March 2006, believes a move to Molineux would be good for both parties.
“Kevin is hard-working,” said the former Republic of Ireland boss. “He’ll run the channels, he’s got two good feet and can score goals with his right foot, left foot and his head. He’s not bad value for money at that price.
“He’s played in the Premier League before and he has quite a few caps now. He’s maturing as a person and as a player, so he’s only going to get better and better.
“In Mick, he’ll be going to a good manager as well because he will look after him,” he continued. “He’s a good age, he knows the league and he knows what it’s all about.
“We all know it’s going to be a tough season for Wolves as it will be for any team coming up from the Championship, but if you can get better quality players in, you’ve got a chance. The manager seems to be adding to the squad nicely now, which can only be good for Wolves.”
Doyle had two seasons of top -flight football at Reading under Steve Coppell, scoring 13 league goals in his first campaign at that level and six in his second with his strike-rate trailing off as Reading lost their way during the second half of the campaign.
He made a strong return to form at the start of last season, though, and might well have played a major part in firing his club straight back up again had it not been for a run of injury problems after Christmas.
If and when the transfer deal is completed, Doyle will leave the club he joined for a little over
€100,000 from Cork City four years ago having averaged better than a goal every three games, form that previously attracted the attention of the likes of Chelsea and Aston Villa.
