Now Warnock goes after Halford for Leeds United ... and who else?

The south coast club’s financial problems have made a fire sale of their more talented first-team squad members inevitable with Jason Pearce having already moved to Elland Road and right-back Joel Ward tipped to follow the central defender.

Manager Warnock admits he will be ‘disappointed’ if Leeds can’t complete a double transfer swoop this week.

He said: “I’ll be glad this week if we get a couple of lads in. If we haven’t, I’ll be disappointed if I’m honest.

“I go away on the 25th and I want to try and get two or three in by then, if I can.

“There’s loads of speculation, but fortunately two or three of my targets haven’t been mentioned yet. I’d like to keep them all under wraps, ideally.

“I’ve spoken to quite a lot of agents over the last seven days. It’s just a matter of trying to seal deals really.”

The transfer of Ward is expected to go through shortly for a fee not far short of the £500,000 United paid Pompey for Pearce, with Leeds pitted in a three-way fight to land him.