Bolton face competition to sign Middlesbrough striker Lukas Jutkiewicz as Wolves join the hunt

Wanderers have got more company in the race to sign Lukas Jutkiewicz – with Wolves now registering their interest in the Middlesbrough striker.

Blackburn Rovers are already known to have the 25-year-old front man on their list of summer targets, but news Kenny Jackett’s newly-promoted side are in the market is bound to cause concern.

Recruiting fans-favourite Jutkiewicz is top of Dougie Freedman’s list of priorities but with Boro demanding at least £1million – and hoping to drive the price higher – he has not yet been able to fund a bid.

Wolves have money to spend and are also chasing Sheffield United’s highly-rated defender Harry Maguire, valued at around £2m, and are one of the clubs mentioned in the £3m bidding war for Coventry City’s Callum Wilson.

Jackett wants more options up front, and currently lacks physical presence in his ranks.

Leon Clarke has failed to impress since he moved from Coventry in January, finding the net just once in 13 games.

Boro want to sell to raise cash for Spanish boss Aitor Karanka to remodel his squad, with sources on Teesside suggesting there is no way back for Jutkiewicz into the first team at the Riverside. Wanderers have made no secret of their desire to bring him back after the former Everton man proved so pivotal in the side’s transformation in the latter stages of last season.

“I am still looking and everyone knows we are interested in Lukas Jutkiewicz after how well he did for us last season. We have to wait and see if that happens,” the manager told The Bolton News a fortnight ago.

Jutkiewicz finished with seven goals from 21 appearances and added a different dimension to Freedman’s side after his arrival on loan in January.

Meanwhile, reports in Huddersfield suggest the club are broadening their search for midfielders after growing frustrated in their pursuit of out-of-favour Wanderers star Keith Andrews.

The Irishman has resigned himself to leaving Bolton, either on loan or permanently, but has yet to make a firm decision on his future.

Source

karlypants wrote:but news Kenny Jackett’s newly-promoted side are in the market is bound to cause concern.

None here, I couldn't give a shite.

The more in the market for Juke, the more the price will rise, the less likely it is we'll get him. 
Shame really although we could make do with Becks, Sordell and the youngsters if pushed. Dougie would probably go back to the loan market if cornered.

Ha ha, he's hardly cornered. The world is full of decent strikers, he just has to find them. You know, by doing his fucking job.

Natasha Whittam wrote:Ha ha, he's hardly cornered. The world is full of decent strikers, he just has to find them. You know, by doing his fucking job.

Lots of shit strikers too. Good ones tend to cost more unless you are incredibly lucky in finding someone who is undervalued. Without having a competitive budget Dougie may struggle but the one thing that makes Juke a possibility is that he's played for Dougie before and knows the club and the team so if he can have a personal input into where he goes it could edge it in Dougie's favour. Sadly that won't wash with Boro who want to see the money. 
Where else can he look? Well the club have apparently scouted loads of players in several countries and it's starting to look like Juke was the best option unless Dougie is working behind the scenes and manages to find a hidden gem. All I'm saying is that it's unlikely he'll find a decent alternative to Juke that we can sign permanently so if that's the way it works out Dougie will look for a temporary fix.

Don't even know why the Bolton news bothered reporting this, they may as well just said - former Bolton loanee Lukas jukavitez will sign for either wolves or Blackburn as we are skint and don't have the foresight to see we need a decent striker to help us push for promotion. The club would rather risk admistration and staying in the championship than making a push for promotion and the potential financial rewards of that ...

These wankers that run my club are starting to make me hate football.

I saw the last post on this was from Reebok Rebel, I knew exactly what the comment would be before reading it.  

Not having any money = lack of foresight.

True if you go back to to the time when we were throwing around cash like water.

A million isn't exactly a huge fee even at this level. If we really can't afford that then we're even deeper in the mire than many of us feared. There's been much talk of the redevelopment and non football related expansion proposed by Burnden Leisure and some suggestions that it must mean our finances weren't as bad as they looked on the surface but if it's true we can't afford to buy Jutkiewicz for the reported fee then it must be even worse.