League One latest: Former Portsmouth striker linked with surprise Bolton Wanderers exit as Oxford agree to keep ex-Blues target and Rotherham open door to departures

The Bolton Wanderers front man is, according the Irish Independent, attracting interest from St Patrick’s Athletic, who are keen to bring the 33-year-old back to the League of Ireland.

The Dublin-born forward started his career at Sligo Rovers, before being snapped up by Scottish Premiership side Hibs in 2012.

And that started a near decade-long career across the water which has seen Doyle play for eight different EFL clubs – including Pompey – and score 130 goals.

Only two of them came for the Blues, whom he featured for during the second half of the 2016-17 season.

Nevertheless, they were strikes which contributed to Paul Cook’s then side securing the League Two title and Doyle departing PO4 with a championship winner’s medal.

Since then the Irishman has played for Oldham, Bradford, Swindon and Bolton.

He’s currently got 18 months left on his three-year Trotters deal, with Doyle scoring seven goals in 26 appearances for Ian Evatt’s side this term.

However, with Bolton close to signing Accrington striker Dion Charles, it has been suggested that the much-travelled front man could be allowed to depart and return home to Ireland.

Ambitious St Pat’s are believed to have a budget in place that could see them lure Doyle to Richmond Park, where Doyle would link up with former Hibs pal Tim Clancy, who is now in charge at Saints.

Kane to extend Oxford stay

Former Pompey target Herbie Kane is to remain at League One rivals Oxford United for the remainder of the season.

The former Liverpool youngster is currently at the Kassam Stadium on loan from Championship Barnsley.

A season-long deal was agreed at the end of August, with a break cause included which would have allowed the Tykes to recall the midfielder in January.

However, the U’s have since paid a fee to have the clause removed.

Boss Karl Robinson told the Oxford Mail following their victory over Wimbledon on Wednesday: ‘We agreed today with Barnsley to keep Herbie Kane for the rest of the season.

‘There was a clause in his contract that he could be recalled in the first few days into January and the owners put up a fee to take that clause out, which is tremendous business.’

Kane was a target for Pompey during the summer of 2019 in 2020.

Rotherham open to January departures

Rotherham assistant manager Richie Barker has revealed the Millers are open to some departures next month.

The former Blues boss said the League One leaders would consider letting some of their fringe players leave in January if replacements could be found and the deal was right for the club.

His comments to the Rotherham Advertiser come after Pompey were this week linked with a move for winger Kieran Sadlier.

Barker said: ‘The players have careers and at some point somebody will say: "Look, I’m not prepared to be a part of this, I need to go off and play somewhere else”.

‘That’s fine, it’s human nature. Anybody who does go, we’ll just replace them as best we can.’

He added: ‘I don’t think the gaffer would allow someone to leave if it wasn’t right for the club - if we couldn’t replace him or couldn’t get the right finances.

‘But we are humanist people who understand that if somebody isn’t happy there’s no point keeping them.

‘Providing it’s right for everybody, we could freshen it up.’