Coyle No to Nugent but Maybe Yes to Fletcher?

Former Clarets gaffer Owen Coyle appears to have denied any interest in David Nugent, our former loan striker from Portsmouth.

It had been thought he was keen to reunite with the striker he originally signed on loan for the Clarets.

However speaking to the Bolton News,Coyle said:

"I haven`t spoken to anyone about David.

"Don`t get me wrong, I think he`s a really good player who I worked with very closely at Turf Moor. And I`m happy to get linked with good players.

"But I`m not looking to bring him to Bolton, and I certainly haven`t made any offers for him, as Portsmouth seem to be suggesting."

Portsmouth of course are currently in administration and are keen to offload some of their players to ease their financial burden.

Pompey relegated along with Burnley and Hull from the Premier League this season have been told they must sell £15 million worth of players by the end of the summer to balance the books.

Pompey`s administrator Andrew Andronikou has already confirmed that Nugent is one such player:

"We are hoping to speak to David`s agent over the next two weeks to find out what his client wants to do," he said yesterday.

"I am told he is trying to stay in the Premier League and Bolton are interested.

"We are looking at £2.5m upwards - that would be a good fee. We are certainly not going to recoup what we have paid for him, while I would like to avoid paying his level of wages."

So if Nugent is not on Coyle's radar does this mean he has other strikers in mind? There is no doubt he would probably like Steven Fletcher to be part of the set-up at Bolton but if the Clarets are prepared to release him would Bolton be willing to outbid Wolves and Birmingham? It is understood that Mick McCarthy is currently in the driving seat and could be about to sign the 23 year old Scottish international for £7-7.5 million.

Fletcher had been linked with Blackburn too recently but Rovers boss Sam Allardyce now appears to have switched targets.

It is now thought that Owen Coyle may have become the main rival to Wolves but a bidding war can only be a good thing for Burnley FC if the club are adamant on selling the player for 'silly money'

No doubt though Clarets fans would prefer Fletcher to go anywhere other than Bolton or Blackburn with most wishing he would stay at Turf Moor!

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