WANDERERS could cash in on Josh Vela before Zach Clough and Mark Davies after it emerged Cardiff City have had an offer accepted for the midfielder.

The Bluebirds are willing to pay around £500,000 for the highly-rated academy graduate – and want him in by the weekend.

Neil Lennon may have to do without Vela tonight at Sheffield Wednesday and will almost certainly be forced to leave Clough and Davies out of his squad, with moves on the cards.

Bristol City have offered Clough a lucrative deal and are willing to pay £2million up front for the striker, with another £1m in increments.

A host of other clubs have also shown an interest but none are willing to pay the same cash fee for a player who still has only 20 first team starts to his name.

Such is the need for funds at Wanderers, pressure has now been put on the 20-year-old to complete the move. But Clough, who has been with Bolton since the age of eight, is understood to be reluctant to leave.

Davies’s move to tonight’s opponents Sheffield Wednesday has also hit a stumbling block with the midfielder struggling to agree personal terms.

A £750,000 fee has been agreed but there is some haggling to be done on the player’s salary before he agrees to move to Hillsborough.

That ramps further pressure on Wanderers to create some cash – be it to pay the £2million-plus tax bill due next Monday or to fund administration.

It was hoped that talks over the last 48 hours with potential buyers would push a sale closer but while Neil Lennon still hopes a deal could be done, he is being realistic about his chances of keeping the likes of Clough, Vela and Davies.

“The board are optimistic we would avoid administration but nothing is definite,” he said. “There are interested parties but there is a lot of to-and-fro. No-one has put any money down yet.

“It would be ideal if we could get a takeover and someone comes in to stablise things but in the short term we have to raise capital.

“The best way to do that at the moment is through the sale of players, which makes the job for me and my staff infinitely more difficult.”