COLIN Todd is insisting on setting his sights high as he continues his search for a striker.

The Wanderers boss is one of a number of Premiership bosses scouring the markets, home and abroad, for a top line attacker.

But his efforts to date have been frustrated by a series of exorbitant price tags and abortive bids on the home front, prompting him to focus more and more on the continental scene.

"It might be because I'm setting my targets very high," he explained. "There are strikers in the lower leagues but you would only sign those as potentials and I want a ready made player. "I've made a number of offers for players in England which have been turned down but then a lot of managers in this country are having the same problem. The prices being asked are too high.

"Dean Sturridge is available at Derby but at £7 million!"

Todd continues to cast his net wide, though, and is understood to have been close to landing French international Nicholas Oudec - currently playing in Spain with Espanol - but the player prefers to stay on the continent.

It is a delicate balancing act for the manager. While confirming that he is as determined as ever to find a striker, he is mindful of the dangers of generating false hopes among fans.

"I don't want to raise the supporters' hopes unnecessarily," he explained. "It is an ongoing situation but it's unfair to raise expectations when you know they can be so easily let down.

"I prefer to talk about new signings when they have been completed."

Meanwhile, Wanderers expect to have Gerry Taggart available for Saturday's friendly at Notts County, where they will be without skipper Gudni Bergsson. The Northern Ireland central defender missed last night's 2-1 defeat at Crewe with a slight thigh injury.

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