Express & Star

Lafferty is 'not for sale'

Burnley boss Steve Cotterill is determined to hang on to striker Kyle Lafferty despite interest from Wolves.

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Lafferty is one of the three strike targets Wolves are pursuing this summer – and Burnley laughed off a near-£500,000 bid from Celtic in January for the 19-year-old Northern Ireland international.

The Championship club insisted he was "not for sale" – and nothing has changed.

Cotterill said: "Mick (McCarthy) called me seconds before the Champions League Final kicked off, and I said: 'You're the last person I would expect on the phone with the Champions League Final about to start.'

"He said it wouldn't take long, and enquired about Kyle, although there were no bids made.

"It didn't take me long to say we didn't want Kyle to go anywhere, and that was that.

"Their chief executive Jez Moxey then spoke to our chairman, and that was rebuffed. We wouldn't want to sell Kyle."

And Scunthorpe boss Nigel Adkins has denied claims that his club have given a "make your mind up" ultimatum to another Wolves target Billy Sharp.

"Billy has been given no such deadline by us," says Adkins. "We want him to stay with us and have offered him a terrific new contract."

Six clubs have enquired about Sharp but it is thought Norwich have come closest to matching Scunthorpe's £2m valuation.

Moxey is refusing to comment on reports that Wolves have increased their offer to £1.8m.

Meanwhile Wolves have rejected claims that they are one of the clubs chasing Sharp's teammate Marcus Williams. The 21-year-old left-back has handed in a transfer request.

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