Wanderers have conceded defeat in their attempt to prise Henri Camara away from Wolves.

The Senegal striker has travelled to Scotland to tie up a year-long loan deal with Celtic, which could be converted into a permanent £7.4 million transfer at the end of the season.

The reported price -- a £1.6m loan fee plus the option to buy at a further £5.8m -- was just too hot for Wanderers whose top offer of £2.7 million was contemptuously dismissed by Molineux bosses last week.

In fact, relations became so strained between the two famous old Wanderers that Sam Allardyce believed that, even if Wolves eventually acceded to Camara's transfer request, they would let him go anywhere but the Reebok.

Allardyce had already switched his sights to alternative targets before the Celtic development, which came just a day after Wolves fined Camara two weeks' wages for failing to report for pre-season training.

Blackburn's Dwight Yorke is the only striker he has expressed an interest in publicly but, according to reports, the former Manchester United man has patched up his differences with Rovers boss Graeme Souness and could be staying at Ewood Park.

With the Camara deal now out of the equation, Allardyce should at least have the financial scope to pursue the players he says he desperately needs to bring his squad back up to Premiership scratch. In addition to a striker, he wants another goalkeeper, a left-back and a midfield player -- but he is running out of time with just over a fortnight to go to the start of the new season.

He should secure his seventh signing of the summer before the weekend with the Brazilian defender Julio Cesar, once of Real Madrid, completing the formalities of a medical today after agreeing a settlement of his contract with the Spanish club, Real Valladolid, which has allowed Wanderers to take him on a free transfer.