Town boss Paul Lambert has confirmed that adding a striker to his squad this summer is a priority and says Will Keane joining on a permanent basis would be “great for us”, but played down reports that the Blues are favourites to land Tranmere’s James Norwood, who was last night named the League Two Player of the Season at the EFL Awards.
”Absolutely, I think it’s really important that we look at that top end of the pitch,” Lambert said when asked whether a striker was top of his summer wish list.
"You need goals in a team. As I’ve said before, you can have great play and great link-up play, you can have dominance of the ball, you just need that goalscoring instinct to happen. So, yes, it’s a priority, that’s for sure.”
Are the wheels already in motion on that front? "We’ve spoken about centre-forwards, but a lot will be down to finances as well, which always happens anyway so you know that.
"Do people want to come? Are they the right fit? Are they not the right fit? Are they the right age? You’ve all those sort of things. We’ve spoken about certain things, but whether it happens, you’ll have to wait and see.”
Asked whether he knows what he’ll have to spend in the summer, Lambert said: "I know what’s happening at the club. You guys will get to hear soon, I’m pretty sure.
"It doesn’t matter to me how much money I’ve got, the club’s got a spirit and a structure to build back to what it should be rather than ‘ac hoc-ing’ and not doing things right. It’s the whole structure of the football club that I think’s got to be right.”
Keane, who scored three goals following his loan move from Hull before suffering a hamstring injury, is out of contract in the summer. The Tigers have an option to keep him for a further year but are not expected to take it up.
What are the chances of the 26-year-old being the frontman Lambert signs in the summer? "I don’t know, again the money side of it plays a big part, there’s no getting away from that. There’s got to be a realistic view to it.
"I don’t need to see Will any more times, I know exactly what he can do. I saw him before in previous years, I know exactly what he can do.
"I know he’s had his injuries from the past and the bad one with his knee and he’s picked up a hamstring problem with us.
"I go back to it, I don’t know what he’d done before, how fit he was before [he came here] but one thing is for sure, I know he was playing really well here when he did get injured and he scored three goals himself and losing him was a blow because he was playing really, really well and scoring.
"Will, he doesn’t need to prove anything to me, I know what he can do. I know Marcus is talking to his agent, so let’s see.”
It’s a deal you’d like to do if it could be done? "I think he’d be great for us, yes. I think he’d be great.”
Norwood has been linked with the Blues on a number of occasions recently with a report from HITC Sport earlier today claiming Town were leading the chase ahead of Burton Albion and Fleetwood Town.
The 28-year-old has scored 29 times this season for Tranmere and is out of contract and available on a Bosman, a market Lambert has confirmed he will be looking at in the summer.
Quizzed on whether there is anything in the claims regarding Norwood, Lambert said: "No, not at all. There’s a few areas of the field which need a little bit of strengthening. Forward areas is one of them, there’s another few areas where I think we’re lightweight and we have to get people in.
"I’ve never really spoken about any individual. What I’ve done is spoken about areas where I think we need strengthening.
"There are players there where I’ll look to see what I think I can get. But again, they’ve got to be the right fit for us and the right structure.”