SHAUN Goater tops Sam Allardyce's January Sales shopping list writes Neil Bonnar

Wanderers are ready to turn to the Manchester City scoring machine to solve their goal crisis.

The Bermudan hit man's 102nd strike for City on Saturday could be his last for the Blues with a switch to the Reebok possible within the next fortnight.

It is understood that Goater, who has scored better than a goal every two games since joining City almost five years ago, is having talks about a move to the Reebok.

Much depends on City's success in tempting Robbie Fowler from Leeds. If the England striker cuts his ties with Leeds after one season in favour of an £8 million move to City, Kevin Keegan will be ready to let Goater go.

The City fans' favourite is 33 next month and has achieved cult status at Maine Road where his goalscoring prowess has been honoured with the chant 'Feed The Goat and he will score'.

He etched his name in City folklore earlier this season when he secured the first derby victory over Manchester United in 13 years with two goals and a man of the match performance in a 3-1 Maine Road victory.

He was in his familiar position in one of the two striker roles in Saturday's 2-1 win over Leeds which lifted City to eighth place in the Premiership, dropping to ninth after yesterday's results.

A survivor as well as a scorer, 'The Goat' has seen off a succession of rivals for his place down the years in Darren Huckerby, Rob Taylor, George Weah, Jon Macken and summer £3.5 million signing Mattias Vuoso. But the expected arrival of Fowler, impending recovery of Paulo Wanchope and expert form of Nicolas Anelka would make a starting place an almost impossible challenge next season.

City and Leeds have agreed terms and the stumbling block is personal terms with Fowler currently on £50,000 a week and City offering only £35,000 which will give him parity with their top earners Anelka and Eyal Berkovic.

Fowler, who still has three and a half years of his contract remaining, wants the move to reignite his career but does not want to miss out financially and will agree once Leeds give him a £2 million pay off.

That will pave the way for Goater's move to Wanderers who are desperate for a clinical finisher, especially if Michael Ricketts joins Spurs, to take advantage of the plethora of chances they are creating.

Commenting on the possible Goater deal, a BWFC spokesman told the official club website: "This is news to us, but we are looking to bring in a striker and Sam has his targets."