McCarthy: No deals for Doyle
Wolves boss Mick McCarthy has denied reports that Arsenal have made a bid for Republic of Ireland international Kevin Doyle.
And the former Ireland manager revealed that it would take a monumental bid from the Gunners or Manchester United to convince him to part company with the forward he paid a club record £6.5 million for a year ago.
The 26-year-old scored 55 league goals in 154 appearances for the Royals before moving to Molineux last summer, netting nine goals in 2009/10 to help keep the Midlands club in the Premier League.
Doyle recently insisted that he was committed to the club, leading to claims that the goal-getter's future with Wolves could be in doubt.
However, McCarthy has moved to quash talk of him going anywhere, revealing that nobody had made an offer and that it would take a ridiculous bid from the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United to convince him to take the cash.
"When Kevin said recently that he was pledging his future to Wolves it suddenly caused a stir," he said.
"The reality is that he was saying it to get everybody off his back. Leave him alone and let him play his football.
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"If Manchester United come in and offer the club £50 million and give him £200,000-a-week, I can't keep him. Then I'll have to say 'thanks, Kevin, all the best, see you'.
"But no, there's not been any approach from Arsenal. I can't be any straighter. Doyle will be a player for us unless someone comes in offering the earth, moon and stars for him."
Emirates Stadium supremo Arsene Wenger has been on the lookout for forwards as he bids to secure a first honour since the 2005 FA Cup, but may not need another one having brought in Marouane Chamakh from Bordeaux earlier this summer.
Sir Alex Ferguson recently admitted that he considered making a move for Spain striker David Villa, so may yet bring in a striker to support talisman Wayne Rooney, with fellow front-men Michael Owen and Dimitar Berbatov scoring just 15 league goals between them in 2009/10.
Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.