Kevin Doyle edges closer to Wolves exit

The Republic of Ireland international was left out of the squad for last night's 2-1 friendly win at Chesterfield despite being fully fit after his groin injury.

Head coach Kenny Jackett insists Leigh Griffiths, Bjorn Sigurdarson, Jake Cassidy and Liam McAlinden are all now ahead of the one-time club record £6.5million signing in the pecking order.

Jackett said: "With Kevin, I just felt he hasn't done enough to push any of those guys out yet, which he will need to do to get himself time on the pitch.

"I wanted to give the younger forwards a chance. We will see with Kevin but I didn't want to disappoint or move any of the younger guys out.

"Cassidy, Griffiths and McAlinden haven't had much time on the pitch at Wolves and they were overlooked before, but they won't be overlooked this year.

"They have started very well."

Speculation surfaced again in Scotland yesterday that Celtic are poised to resurrect their interest in Doyle, whether or not Gary Hooper's £5million move to Queens Park Rangers goes through.

Celtic boss Neil Lennon, who failed in a loan bid for Doyle in January, said: "We have a No 1 striker in mind and, even if Gary stays, we would still like to bring that player in.

"I would like to have him by Thursday as he would then be eligible for the Elfsborg game, our Champions League third qualifying round tie next Wednesday.

"We're working really hard on that but it's slow progress. He's a player we have liked for a while."

But Jackett stressed there had been no contact from Celtic.

He said: "Jez Moxey is away but there haven't been any calls to either myself or Kevin Thelwell."

With only one more warm-up game left – Saturday's visit of Real Betis – and just 10 days before the big kick-off at Preston, time is against Doyle gate-crashing Jackett's plans for the start of the season.